The Pact
by charmedhunter
Summary: Before her death, Melinda Warren signed a pact with the Sons of Ipswich. One that ensured the protection of her bloodline. And one that will force Melinda Halliwell to do something she thought she would never have to do. Marry a stranger. But which one?
1. Characters

Name: Wyatt Matthew Halliwell

Age: 21

Powers: Force field, Telekinesis, Pyrokinesis, Telekinetic Orbing, Orbing, Minor Projection, Conjuration, Sensing, Healing, Ability to wield Excalibur, Energy balls, Energy blast

Mother: Piper Halliwell

Father: Leo Wyatt

Siblings: Christopher Perry Halliwell, Melinda Prudence Halliwell

Occupation: Law Student at Harvard.

Name: Christopher Perry Halliwell

Age: 20

Powers: Telekinesis, Telekinetic Orbing, Orbing, Sensing, Limited telepathic communication with charges, Healing, Glamouring, Cloaking

Mother: Piper Halliwell

Father: Leo Wyatt

Siblings: Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, Melinda Prudence Halliwell

Occupation: Medical Student at Dartmouth

Name: Melinda Prudence Halliwell

Age: 17

Powers: Molecular Immobilization, Molecular Combustion, Telepathy (Inactive)

Mother: Piper Halliwell

Father: Leo Wyatt

Siblings: Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, Christopher Perry Halliwell

Occupation: High School Senior

Name: Prudence Cassandra Halliwell

Age: 17

Powers: Telekinetic Hearting, Telekinesis, Astral Projection, Cupid Abilities

Mother: Phoebe Halliwell

Father: Coop Valentine

Siblings: Patricia Melinda Halliwell, Penelope Brianna Halliwell

Occupation: High School Senior

Name: Patricia Melinda Halliwell

Age: 15

Powers: Molecular Immobilization, Molecular Combustion, Pyrokinesis, Cupid Abilities

Mother: Phoebe Halliwell

Father: Coop Valentine

Siblings: Prudence Cassandra Halliwell Penelope Brianna Halliwell

Occupation: High School Sophomore

Name: Penelope Brianna Halliwell

Age: 9

Powers: Premonition, Empathy, Levitation, Cupid Abilities

Mother: Phoebe Halliwell

Father: Coop Valentine

Siblings: Prudence Cassandra Halliwell, Patricia Melinda Halliwell

Occupation: Grade 4 in Elementary School

Name: Henry Samuel Matthews Jr.

Age: 17

Powers: Orbing, Healing, Sensing, Aerokinesis

Mother: Paige Matthews

Father: Henry Mitchell

Siblings: Peyton Grace Matthews, Phoenix Rachael Matthews

Occupation: High School Senior

Name: Peyton Grace Matthews

Age: 15

Powers: Orbing, Sensing, Healing, Cyrokinesis

Mother: Paige Matthews

Father: Henry Mitchell

Siblings: Henry Samuel Matthews Jr., Phoenix Rachael Matthews (twin)

Occupation: High School Sophomore

Name: Phoenix Rachael Matthews

Age: 15

Powers: Orbing, Sensing, Healing, Pyrokinesis

Mother: Paige Matthews

Father: Henry Mitchell

Siblings: Henry Samuel Matthews Jr., Peyton Grace Matthews

Occupation: High School Sophomore.


	2. The Pact

Ipswich, Massachusetts, 1692:

The fire spun shadows across the darkened room. The five men were completely alone, save for the large book placed on the centre of the table. There was a comfortable silence that swept through the room. The silence was disturbed by harsh knocking on the door. The five men looked up from their thoughts. The youngest amongst them, Peter Simms, moved to open the door. No sooner than he had opened the door, it burst open to reveal a beautiful young woman with an infant in her arms and a book under her arm. John Putnam, the leader of the group, spoke first,

"Melinda Warren." He stated, bowing his head slightly, it is an honour." The young woman looked startled,

"You know of me?" she asked.

"Of course, your powers are legendary; even here in Ipswich." Edward Danvers pointed out. Melinda nodded. She looked down at the small bundle in her arms before looking up at the five men,

"I have come to ask a favour of you. I want you to ensure the protection of my Daughter and my Book of Shadows." Putnam's eyebrows shot up,

"Ms. Warren, a favour with the magnitude that you are suggesting cannot be done without something in return." Melinda looked at the other members of the Covenant,

"I have no money," she chose her words carefully. Putnam laughed,

"We have no need of your money. No, what we require is something greater than money."

"What would that be?"

"I think you already know." Cold and calculating, Putnam knew that Melinda possessed great power, power that he wanted for himself. Melinda placed her book next to the Book of Damnation.

"I am perfectly willing to give you my powers, but I need them to make a prophecy regarding future generations of my line." Putnam raised his eyebrows,

"What kind of prophecy?"

"I vow that each generation of Warren witches will grow stronger, culminating in the arrival of three sisters. These three sisters will be the most powerful witches the world has ever known. They will destroy all kinds of evil and shall be called the Charmed Ones"

"And what about the generations after them?" Charles Darwin asked. Melinda frowned,

"Well, each generation of Warren Witches will be stronger than the last, so I would assume that the Generation after the Charmed Ones would be stronger than their mothers." There was a long silence during which no one spoke. Slowly, Putnam began to smile; if he couldn't have Melinda's power, he would make sure that future Sons of Ipswich could.

"Then, it is decided; when the time comes, the eldest daughter of the Charmed Line shall be married to the eldest son of the Covenant. If she refuses, then your bloodline will cease to exist. Are we clear?"

"But, what if your descendant refuses?" Melinda challenged. Putnam frowned, he had never considered that. Melinda smiled; she had beaten John Putnam at his own game. No one spoke until Christopher Parry spoke up,

"If the Son refuses, then the Power shall be broken forever." Melinda and Putnam turned to each other. Both Melinda and the Covenant stepped up to their respective books. Melinda held her hand over the triquetra emblazoned on the cover of the Book of Shadows,

"I, Melinda Warren vow that when the time comes, the eldest daughter of the Charmed Line shall be married to the eldest son of the Covenant within 6 months of her 18th Birthday. Should she refuse, the Warren bloodline shall be terminated." Unflinchingly, Melinda cut her hand and let the blood fall on to the triquetra. The triquetra glowed. "So let it be done." She finished softly. She turned to the Covenant. Their eyes turned black as they summoned their powers,

"We, the brothers of the Covenant vow to protect the Book and bloodline of Melinda Warren in exchange for the merging of our bloodlines; the eldest son of the Covenant is to be married to the eldest daughter of the Charmed Line within 6 months of her 18th Birthday. Should he refuse, the Power shall be broken forever." They each cut their hands and let it fall onto the Book of Damnation. "So let it be done."

After that fateful night, Prudence Warren and the Book of Shadows were entrusted to the Marx family, who were good friends of Edward Danvers. No one knew of the past signed by Melinda Warren and the Brothers of the Covenant. And it never concerned anyone of the Warren bloodline. Until Now.


	3. There's Something About The Sunshine

A/N: Sorry, it's taken me like forever to post the new chapter. Things have been kind of crazy; exams, then MORE exams. I'm so, so, so, so, sorry. You guys must hate me. Anyway, here it is, the second chapter. PLEASE read and review. =/

The beach was full of tourists. Families out enjoying the sunny San Franciscan day. Out in the deep blue ocean, three teenagers surveyed the busy beach at a safe distance from their surfboards. To any outsider looking out at the trio, they might seem like an ordinary bunch of attractive teenagers enjoying the sunshine just as much as they were. And they were. Except that they weren't ordinary. They were the children of the Charmed Ones. Feared by evil and revered by good. 17 yr old Henry Mitchell-Matthews turned to his older cousins,

"Do you remember that time when we had that huge cookout on the beach?" He said with a twinkle in his electric blue eyes. Melinda Halliwell grinned and glanced over at her younger cousin, Prudence,

"You mean the time when Prue threw up all over Wyatt's shoes? Sure I do." Prue rolled her deep blue eyes.

"Whatever. I was 10. Cut me some slack." Laughing, Melinda rolled over onto her back and stared up at the clear blue sky. She closed her eyes, allowing the warm rays of the sun to beat down her face.

"What time is it?" She asked lazily. Henry glanced down at his watch,

"4:30"

"What?" Melinda yelled, rolling off of her surfboard. "4:30? Shit, I have to go. Come on!" She began paddling towards the shore, Henry and Prue following. As soon as they reached the shore, the three ran to the car, narrowly avoiding contact with the rowdy tourists. When they had finally reached the car, Melinda quickly stripped of her wetsuit and shoved on a pair of cutoff shorts and t-shirt over her bikini. After hurriedly strapping her surfboard to the roof of her Mom's black SUV, the petite brunette turned to her two bemused cousins, both of whom had their eyebrows raised as if to say: 'Dude' Melinda smiled sheepishly, "Mom and Dad wanted me home by 4. They needed to talk to me about some stuff." Prue's face filled with concern,

"Is everything okay?" she asked. "Is this about you sneaking out last night to hunt that demon with us last night?" Sneaking out of the house was forbidden by their mothers. But, Henry and Prue always managed to find a way to get out of the house by either orbing or hearting to their desired location. For Melinda, who only had two powers; none of which translated to transport, sneaking out of the house was a little bit harder. It was easier during the school year when Wyatt and Chris were at college, that way her parents slept peacefully while she snuck out to hunt demons.

Yesterday night, though, just had to be the night that Wyatt was out late on a date. The twice-blessed had come home to find his little sister climbing out of her bedroom window. Needless to say, Wyatt hadn't found the entire situation funny and had told Piper and Leo at the breakfast table. Melinda closed her eyes and waited for the eventual fireworks that were bound to follow, instead her mother had asked her if she had any plans to hang out with Henry and Prue that day. Melinda's mouth dropped open in shock, Chris let his fork clatter to his plate and Wyatt looked up in fascination.

"Urm, I think we might go hang out at the beach today;" Melinda told Piper, relieved to be off the hook, "See if we can catch some waves" Piper nodded.

"Okay honey, but make sure you're back at 4. Your father and I want to talk to you about something." Melinda grimaced, maybe she wasn't off the hook after all. Wyatt smirked at his sister before returning to his mound of pancakes, and Chris just shook his head in amusement and looked back down at his own plate.

Returning to the beach, Melinda reflected on the events of the day, "Probably." She answered her cousins' question. "Are you guys coming with me, or are you staying?" Prue and Henry looked at each other,

"We'll make our own way home." Henry decided. "Good luck with the firing squad" He added.

"Thanks." Melinda got into the car and waved to her two best friends as she drove off towards her doom.

Piper Halliwell nervously paced the foyer of her childhood home, pausing only to glance at the front door, in the hopes that her 17 yr old daughter might come racing in. Part of her was worried that Melinda was late, but another part of her was secretly glad that her daughter was late; anything to avoid telling her the truth about her destiny. Most parents only had to talk to their 17 yr olds about college. Piper, on the hand, had to tell her 17 yr old daughter that she had to fulfill the terms of a pact made centuries before she had been born, and that if she didn't, then future generations of their family will have to suffer. Piper stopped pacing when she heard her car pulling into the driveway. Leo stood from his position on the couch. Walking over to where Piper was standing, Leo placed a reassuring arm around his wife. Melinda burst through the front door, alarmed at the sight of her parents waiting for her in the entrance hall.

"Mom! Dad!" She exclaimed, "I'm so sorry I'm late, we sort of lost track of time at the beach, and I tried to get home as fast as I could, but there was so much traffic, and…" Melinda trailed off; confused by the weird look her parents were giving her. "Are you guys okay? Look, if this is about last night, then I'm really sorry, it won't happen again, I'm sorry." Piper stepped forward and placed an arm around her daughter,

"No, honey, this isn't about last night"

"It isn't?" Melinda scrunched up her face in confusion. "Then what's this about?" Piper and Melinda sat down on the couch; Leo sat on the coffee table in front of them. Piper and Leo exchanged a look, which Melinda intercepted. "Look, can you guys PLEASE stop treating me like a kid? What's going on" Leo cleared his throat and began,

"Well, you know the story of Melinda Warren don't you Mel?" Melinda raised an eyebrow, "Yes, of course you do. Well, the a week before she was sentenced to be executed, Melinda traveled to the town of Ipswich, Massachusetts, where there were a group or a Covenant I should say of powerful men, warlocks I guess, but the good kind. Melinda went to them because they were the only ones who were powerful enough to protect Melinda's young daughter, Prudence. And for the most part they agreed, except for one. John Putnam wanted Melinda's power; which he couldn't have, of course, because she needed them to make a prophecy about the Charmed Ones." Leo smiled at his wife, "Anyway, so the Covenant was curious about what would happen to the Warren line, AFTER the Charmed Ones. Melinda assumed that you guys would be more powerful than you mothers, which you are. Then-" Leo broke off, this was where it got awkward. Piper, sensing her husband's doubt, took over the story-telling.

"So, the Covenant decided to protect Melinda's line; on one condition: That their two bloodlines would be eventually merged."

"Merged like how?" Melinda turned to her mother. "By marriage?"

"Yes, by marriage, the eldest son of the Covenant will have to marry the eldest daughter of the Charmed line, within 6 months of his 18th birthday, or the power of the Covenant will be broken forever. And, the eldest daughter of the Charmed line, will have to marry the eldest son of the Covenant within 6 months of her 18th birthday, or the Warren bloodline would cease to exist." Piper finished and sat back as Melinda processed her mother's words. 'The eldest daughter.' Her and Prue. And since she was born a week BEFORE Prue. That meant…

"Oh my God." Melinda breathed. She closed her eyes, hoping that when she opened them, this would all be a bad dream. She slowly got up from the couch and began walking around the living room, aware of her parents' worried eyes following her. "So, what you're saying is that, I have to marry a complete stranger within 6 months after I turn 18 and if I don't, then our bloodline will cease to exist. Which means what exactly?" She asked, turning to her Dad.

"It means, that you guys won't be able to have kids, and the line would just die out." Leo supplied the answer. Melinda nodded and went back to her pacing. After a while, Melinda stopped her pacing and slowly walked up the stairs in a trance-like state. Piper made a move to follow her, but Leo held her back, Leave her." He said, "She needs to think about it. Give her some time. She'll come to us when she's ready."


	4. The World Spins Madly On

Melinda opened her eyes to complete darkness. She lay there in the dark for what felt like hours and went through the day's events in her head over and over again, hoping, once again, that it had all been one big horrible nightmare. But it wasn't. She HAD to marry a complete stranger within 6 months of her 18th Birthday, which was in December, and if she didn't, then everything that her mom and her sisters had done would've been for nothing. Her Aunt Prue would've died for nothing. Generations of her family had been protecting innocents since Ancient times and going down in history as the girl who managed to single-handedly wipe out the entire line, wasn't exactly how she'd imagined herself to be written about after she had died. So, that meant she had to go through with the 'Pact'. Sighing, Melinda turned on her bedside light and climbed out of bed. Carefully opening and closing her bedroom door so she didn't wake up her parents, Melinda walked across the hallway to her brothers room, where she could see a light was on, which meant that one of them was awake; which was good for her, because she needed to talk to someone, Melinda hoped it was Chris. Growing up, Chris had been her favourite brother, he had been the one to play dress up with her when Prue was sick, and he ALWAYS gave her a box of cookies every year on her birthday, but most importantly, he knew how to keep a secret. Wyatt had never been able to keep a secret. Melinda quietly knocked on their door and walked in to find both of her brothers awake, huddled over the Book of Shadows.

"Hey guys," Melinda said, flopping down on Chris' bed "What are you doing demon hunting at this hour?" Chris closed the Book and walked over to his bed and sat sown besides his sister.

"How are you doing?" He asked his emerald eyes full of concern. "Mom and Dad told us about the whole Pact thing."

"Which, by the way, totally sucks ass." Wyatt declared and walked over to sit on Melinda's other side. Melinda smiled and placed her head on her eldest brothers shoulder,

"Yeah," she said softly, breathing in the familiar scent of Wyatt's cologne; he always used way too much. "It sucks. But what can I do?"

"You could try to break it?" Wyatt offered. "I mean, Chris and I were just looking in the Book and we found a pretty good reversal spell-" Wyatt broke off, noticing Melinda's expression. "Mel, are you okay? What's wrong?" He asked, his voice full of concern. Melinda broke down into tears, her brothers were willing to do whatever it takes to free her from the Pact, even though they knew that it would probably never happen, they were still going to try.

"Mel? What's wrong?" Chris asked. "Are you crying because of the whole Pact thing, because Wyatt and I are gonna do whatever it takes to fix this, don't worry Mel, you won't have to marry some random creep." Melinda shook her head,

"No." she said, wiping her eyes and looking up at her brothers, with a determined glint in her brown eyes. "The Pact can't be broken. You know it. I know it. There's no point in pretending that we can break it. We can't. The magic behind it is too powerful. So, do me a favour, and stop trying okay? Please. For me?" Melinda looked back and forth between her two brothers,

"Sure Mel," Wyatt said. "We'll stop looking. But ONLY because you told us to stop. I don't want you thinking that we're okay with you riding off into the sunset with some random stranger." Melinda let out a shaky laugh,

"Don't worry, Wyatt, I'll do no such thing." She inhaled deeply, " Okay so now what? What do I do now?" Wyatt and Chris looked at each other,

"Talk to Mom and Dad." The two said in unison. Melinda groaned and sat back so that she was lying on her back.

"I KNEW you guys would say that."

"Wyatt's right Mel," Chris said looking down at his sister, "Mom and Dad probably know what the next move is, plus you need to talk to them. I know you mad at them-"

"I'm not MAD at them, Chris."Melinda sat back up, "I'm- I'm scared. I don't want to marry a complete stranger, I don't want to have kids with him, I don't want to not get my happy ending, and I don't want to be married at 18." Melinda broke off, not sure what to say next.

"Hey," Chris held Melinda's hand, "you'll get your happy ending. I promise. And I can also promise you that he won't be a freak. At least not to you." Melinda wrinkled her nose,

"What do mean, 'at least not to me'?"

"Well, this guy, whoever he is, is destined to be with you, just like you are destined to be with him. You were born to marry each other." Melinda looked at her brother, letting his words sink in. For the first time that day, since her parents had told her about the pact, Melinda felt a genuine smile work its way across her face. Sitting with her brothers, Melinda felt that things weren't so bad after all.

The next morning, Melinda woke to sound of people in her room. Slowly opening one eye, Melinda saw Prue sitting at the end of her bed, flipping through a magazine, and after opening her other eye, she saw Henry sitting in her desk chair, tuning up her guitar. Prue looked over at her cousin and smiled,

"Hey, Henry, check it out, Sleeping Beauty's finally awake." Melinda rolled her eyes and sat up,

"What time is it?" She asked, pushing strands of long brown hair away from her face. Henry put down her guitar, and grinned,

"11." He told her, "You slept through breakfast, which by the way, was totally awesome." Prue rolled her eyes,

"Aunt Piper called last night and told us everything, so we thought we'd come over and cheer you up!" Prue squealed in her best cheer voice. Prue was the head cheerleader of their high school's cheer squad and made it her mission to inject cheer into every possible aspect of their lives, which was cool, because, cheer was exactly what Melinda needed.

"Thanks for coming guys, but I kinda need to talk to my parents about this whole Pact thing. Rain check?" She looked at the two, her eyes swimming with guilt, to her surprise, Prue and Henrys faces broke into huge smiles. As if Melinda had told them exactly what they had need to hear. "What?" she asked.

"Aunt Piper actually asked us to come over and try to get you to talk to her and Uncle Leo. She's worried you hate her or something." Henry said. Melinda smiled, that sounded like something her Mom would do. Prue got up from the bed,

"Okay, so, I'll tell Aunt Piper that you're coming downstairs?" Melinda nodded, "Well, we," Prue motioned to Henry, "are gonna go, but call me later okay? You and I need to talk." Prue shot Melinda a significant look as she left, Henry shot her one of his signature smiles that could make anyone smile back, no matter how sad or angry they were. And it worked, after her two best friends had left, Melinda got ready with a huge smile on her face. After Melinda had gotten ready, she slowly walked downstairs, wearing her favourite pair of shorts and a red tank top. She walked into the kitchen where her parents were, it was obvious that they had been talking about her, because when she walked in, they stopped talking. Melinda grabbed a mug from the cupboard and poured herself a cup of coffee, fully aware of the fact that her parents were watching her. After adding milk and sugar to her coffee, Melinda sat down at the kitchen table facing her parents.

"So," she began, stirring her coffee. "How long have you known about the Pact?" she asked, looking up at Piper and Leo.

"About a week." Piper answered. "The Elders told your Aunt Paige, who told us." Melinda nodded her head slowly,

"Okay, so since I think we've all pretty much figured out that there's no way to break the Pact. The magic's too strong. So what now? What's our next move?" Her parents looked at each other,

"Well, the Elders told us the names of the members of the Covenant. Their last names at least. Danvers, Garwin, Parry and Simms." Leo began, "Putnam's bloodline was killed off during the Salem hunts." Melinda smirked, Putnam had been the one to suggest the Pact, he deserved whatever he had gotten, that no good, lying, evil-

"Melinda honey?" Her moms voice broke through her musings, Melinda jumped,

"Sorry," she smiled sheepishly, Piper smiled back at her daughter, glad that she wasn't yelling at them or blowing things up as she had expected the teenager to do. 'Thank God she inherited Leo's rational mind' Piper mused. Leo, too was smiling as he continued on with what he was saying,

"So the Elders won't tell us who the eldest son is. BUT, we do know that he's only a few months older than you." Melinda breathed a sigh of relief, at least she wasn't betrothed to a man years older than her, a few months she could handle.

"So, does he know?" She asked her parents, "About the Pact I mean."

"No." Leo answered. "The Pact was recorded in a journal of one of the Covenant, that hasn't been found by the current Covenant."

"So, basically, I have to go find this random guy and tell him that he has to marry me?" Melinda asked. Piper and Leo nodded, "But, how am I gonna do it? With school and everything, I can't ask Henry to orb me to this Ipswich place or whatever everyday can I? So what do we do about that?" Her parents exchanged glances.

"Well, honey," Piper began, "The Elders told us that the Covenant go to a boarding school in Ipswich. Spencer Academy. The idea is that-"

"That I would go there and get to know HIM." Melinda finished her mother's sentence flatly. She knew this was coming, if the Elders hadn't suggested it, then she would've. It would be easier this way, being able to see her 'fiancée' everyday. "But how are we gonna pay for the school? Boarding school is pretty expensive…" she let the sentence trail off. Money had never been a problem for her family, Piper had opened a successful restaurant a few years ago and the money from 'Charmed', that was the name of the restaurant, combined with the income from P3, they had more than enough money to send Wyatt and Chris to good schools, but boarding school was boarding school.

"The Elders have decided to cover all the expenses, considering the importance of the matter. And you've already got a place ready for you, we sent your papers as soon as we found out." Leo admitted sheepishly. Melinda exhaled. She looked at her parents, and reached across the table for their hands.

"So, I guess it's off to Ipswich then?"

The next week was a blur of packing, farewells, and long heart to hearts with practically every member of Melinda's family. Her Aunt Phoebe had told her to keep her heart open at all times, especially where HE was concerned. Uncle Coop just winked and told her that he had a feeling that everything would work out okay. Prue had ordered her to call every single day with updates and pictures. 15 yr old Tric, also known as Patricia, had given her a mixtape to remind her of all of them, nine year old Penelope, had given her favourite stuffed teddy bear, Wuvy, who had been passed down to each Halliwell child, starting with Wyatt, and ending with Penny. Melinda had hugged the nine year old; she knew how much the bear meant to the little girl.

Aunt Paige told her to make her 'fiancée' work for her affections; "Just because he KNOWS that you're gonna end up with him, that doesn't mean that he can treat you like dirt, you know?" Melinda had nodded, pretending to get what her Aunt was trying to say. Uncle Henry, just shook his head, gave her a bear hug, and told her to take care of herself. Henry gave Melinda his favourite guitar, so that she'd be able to keep in practice. The twins, Peyton and Phoenix gave her a huge basket full of chocolates; "Because chocolate makes everything better." The 15 yr old twins had said.

Wyatt and Chris had given her a camera; "So we can make fun of how ugly your fiancée is." Wyatt had said while Aunt Phoebe glared at him. And last but not least, her parents took her outside to show her their going away present. There in the driveway, the backseat filled with all her stuff, stood a beautiful cherry red 1969 Chevy Impala. Melinda LOVED cars; she knew how to dismantle and reassemble an engine within 5 minutes. She had been saving up all of her money to buy this very car from an old junkyard and then spend God knows how long fixing it up. But here it was. Standing in her driveway, looking brand new.

"OMG!" Melinda screamed, launching herself into her Dads arms, "!" Laughing, Leo, removed himself from his daughters grasp,

"This is to say Thank You. We know what a big sacrifice this is for you. And your Mom and I are so proud of you." Melinda hugged her parents, and then reached up and wiped their tears away,

"I love you." She told her mother, "I'll call as soon I get there." Piper nodded, fearing that if she said anything, she might just break down in tears. Waving to the rest of her family, Melinda and Wyatt, who had been elected to take Melinda to Spenser, got into her new car and drove away from the house where Melinda had grown up. As she turned the car away from Prescott Street, Melinda wiped away her tears and wondered what troubles lay ahead.

A/N: What do you think? Too much fluff? Let me know people! Review!


	5. The Sons Of Ipswich

A/N: Okay so, thanks for the reviews. And since I can't figure out how to make those line thingys that mark the end of one section of the story from the other, so I'm just gonna write the word CHARMED in really big letters. Okay? So, here it is, Chapter 4. And as the title suggests, this is where Melinda meets the boys (Yay!) Oh and btw, the whole story happens during the movie, so there's no Sarah, (sorry) but she might show up in the sequel, if I decide to do a sequel that is. =/ Anyway, happy reading!

CHARMED

Melinda dumped her bags on her dorm bed and looked around, there was another bed in the room; guess that meant she had a roommate. Melinda had come up with her game plan. Since she couldn't go around asking every guy on campus if their last names were Danvers, Parry, Garwin or Simms; she didn't want to draw any attention to herself; she figured that the best way for her to meet her 'fiancée' was to show up to every party and hope for the best. Sighing, Melinda decided to start unpacking, and then she would start her mission. Unpacking all her stuff didn't take that long, and by the time she had finished unpacking, her roommate had showed up. Her roommate was a tall, pretty girl, who smiled as soon as she saw Melinda,

"You must be Melinda," she said. "I'm Kate, your roommate." Melinda smiled at the other girl and stuck out her hand,

"Nice to meet you" she grinned. Kate flopped down on her own bed,

"So, where are you from?" She asked the brunette, who sat down on her bed,

"San Francisco." Melinda replied. "What about you?"

"New York." Kate answered, looking down at Melinda's black, leather boots with interest, "Those are really cute. You should totally wear them to the party tonight." Melinda's eyebrows shot up,

"Party huh?"

"Yeah," Kate said, getting up from the bed, and grabbing a set of clothes from her wardrobe, "Its sort of like a back to school bonfire type thing. Everyone will be there. I was going to go, but I don't have a ride."

"I could give you a ride," Melinda said quickly; the party would be the perfect opportunity to try and find the Covenant. "I just need to find something to wear." Kate grinned,

"Wear those boots, and a really sexy top." Melinda laughed.

"Okay Kate, sure thing." As both the girls went to get ready for the party, Melinda had this weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. Almost like butterflies as she thought about the prospect of meeting the boy she was going to spend the rest of her life with.

CHARMED

Kate and Melinda stood at a safe distance away from the raging bonfire and talked and laughed as the bodies around them moved in time to the music. Melinda had taken Kate's advice and was wearing a strappy gold top that was covered in sequins. She had worn her favourite leather jacket over the top, not wanting to show too much. She had been searching the crowd the whole they had been here, hoping to catch someone's eye. She wondered if she would know immediately when she had found Him. But so far, no such luck. Sighing, she turned to Kate and decided to do more recon,

"So, give me the scoop? Whose here?" Kate turned Melinda in the direction of a guy standing with a redhead above the bonfire,

"Okay so first thing you need to know, is that Aaron Abbots," she pointed to the guy who was messing with his hair. "Is a prick, treats girls like dirt." Melinda nodded. One down, a gazillion more to go. Her eyes rested on a good-looking boy, weaving his way in and out of the crowd, all the while looking at the two girls. Melinda felt something, she would later put it down to heartburn, but right now, she felt her heart telling her that he was the ONE. Her betrothed. Not bad she thought, smiling at the boy. Not bad at all.

"Who's that?" She asked Kate, trying to keep her voice light. Kate turned to look at the boy,

"New guy. Don't know much about him, but I intend to find out." Kate said.

"He's cute." Melinda remarked.

"Hmm." Kate turned back to Melinda, a couple of loud voices were heard and the girls turned around to see a group of four boys walking towards them. They were all extremely good-looking, Melinda noted. Kate smiled,

"They're here." She said.

"Who are they?" Melinda asked, it was obvious, that these guys were pretty well known around the school.

"The Sons of Ipswich" Kate breathed as the group began to move towards them. Melinda noticed that one of them was looking at her, tall, dark, handsome. Basically, her type. Shame she had to marry someone else (A/N: Melinda doesn't know that the Covenant are known as the Sons of Ipswich, she thinks Chase is a member of the Covenant.)

"Hey Kate," the boy said, looking at Melinda. Kate smiled,

"Caleb," she said, launching herself into the arms of another one the 'Sons' this one, also tall and handsome, but with blond hair and green eyes. "Hey baby" Kate breathed, "You're late."

"Yeah I know" Kate's boyfriend said, "I had some family stuff." He said, noticing Melinda for the first time, "Who's this?" He asked Kate.

"Oh right, this is my new roommate Melinda," she said introducing Melinda to the boys, Melinda waved. "Melinda, this is Pogue Parry," Kate said, pointing at her boyfriend. Melinda's blood ran cold. The Sons of Ipswich WERE the Covenant, which meant that her future husband was one of the four guys standing in front of her, not the guy from before. For her sake she PRAYED that Pogue wasn't the eldest son. Kate would probably kill her. Melinda kept her expression neutral and smiled at Pogue. Kate pointed to the boy right at the end of the line, a boy with tousled brown hair and an adorable smile, "Tyler Simms," Kate pointed to the blond haired boy standing next to Pogue, "this is Reid Gar-"

"Garwin," The boy interrupted, sticking out his hand, "Reid Garwin. Good Evening." Melinda bit back a laugh and shook his hand,

"Good Evening." She said

"You know, Melinda was my Grandmothers name," Reid informed her. Melinda raised her eyebrows,

"Really?"

"Yeah, you know, you kinda remind me of her."

"So I'm old and wrinkly?" Melinda scrunched up her nose, pretending to be weirded out, she wasn't, Reid just had a really lame sense of humour. Reid backtracked when he realized that his pick up line was backfiring.

"No, what I meant was, she was beautiful and you're beautiful and-" Before Reid could embarrass himself anymore, the tall, handsome one from before who had been checking her out interrupted and offered her his hand,

"Caleb Danvers," he said introducing himself, and you don't bring my grandmother to mind in any way." Melinda laughed,

"That's good to know, I'm Melinda." When Melinda shook Caleb's hand, she felt a jolt of electricity run through her; she looked up at Caleb and just knew that he had felt it too. Before she could say anything, the redhead she had seen with that Aaron Abbots guy, pushed herself into the space between Caleb and Melinda,

"Hey Caleb." She said, batting her eyes.

"Kira." He nodded at her.

"How was your summer?" She asked.

"Urm," Caleb looked behind Kira to where Melinda was standing. Kira turned around and gave her the once over.

"Kira." She said, sticking out her hand.

"Melinda." Melinda shook Kiras hand.

"Oh, from California right?" Melinda nodded, wondering how the hell she had known that. "Aren't people from California supposed to be tanned?" she said, referring to Melinda's pale skin; something she got from her mother's side of the family. Melinda opened her mouth to reply with a snappy comeback of her own when Caleb intervened.

"Hey, Kira, why don't you give it a rest?" Suddenly, Aaron appeared and stepped up to Caleb,

"No, why don't YOU give it a rest?" Caleb looked Aaron up and down,

"I don't want any trouble here Aaron."

"I'm sure you don't."

"You posers make me wanna puke," One of Aarons friends said. Reid stepped forward.

"Is that that right Bordy?" Caleb held Reid back.

"I think you owe Kira an apology." Aaron said. Caleb smirked.

"Actually, I think, Kira," he pointed to Kira, "Owes Melinda the apology." Melinda shot Kira a triumphant smirk. Aaron looked back at the girls and pushed Caleb. Suddenly, the cute guy from before, the one who Melinda had thought was one of the Sons, held Aaron back, he looked at Melinda,

"You were being kinda bitchy." He told her, referring to her triumphant smirk. Melinda just shrugging, she found herself looking at Reid, whose eyes flashed black, so quickly she wasn't sure whether it had been a trick of light, within seconds, Aarons friend projectile vomited all over Aaron, everyone stepped back with looks of disgust. Reid laughed. Melinda's eyes narrowed, magic for personal gain? These boys were playing by their own rules. The music stopped abruptly, and everyone turned towards the DJ's.

"Hey guys, Dylan just called, said he saw three squad cars headed this way on Old Dell Road." Suddenly the beach was a flurry of motion, people trying to get back to their cars. On the way back to the cars, Melinda found herself wedged between Caleb and Mystery guy. Kate and Pogue were walking ahead of them,

"Need a ride?" Pogue asked Kate.

"No, Melinda drove us out here." Caleb looked down at Melinda who smiled back at him. He turned to Mystery Guy,

"Hey, nice going back there." He said shaking hands with the other boy, "Caleb"

"Chase. Oh, the guy and I were about to go at it, his friends puking sure came at an opportune time" Melinda smiled uneasily.

"Didn't it though" She heard Reid say from behind her. That was she knew that Reid had used his powers to make that guy throw up. Finally, they reached their cars, Pogue smiled at Kate and Caleb smiled at Melinda. Melinda slid into her car. Chase and Kate got in to, Kate had offered Chase a ride, while they had been walking through the woods.

"Okay guys quickly before the cops get here." Melinda tried to start her car, swearing internally, when she realized that it wasn't working. She didn't have the time and tools she needed to figure out what was wrong and fix it; she stuck her head out of the window,

"My car won't start!"

"So hop in with us" Tyler offered.

"I can't just LEAVE it here!"

"I can fix it for you." Reid offered. Reid got out the car and popped the hood. He stood there for a few seconds, motionless, leaving Melinda to believe he was using his powers to fix her car. Her eyes narrowed further, she hoped Reid wasn't the one she had to marry, he was annoying her with his open and blatant use of Magic. "Try it now" he said. Cautiously, Melinda started her car, and sure enough, it worked. She pretended to be grateful to Reid, even though she knew that he hadn't actually done anything. On the way back to the dorms, Melinda saw Chase staring at her through the rearview mirror, she still felt that tug on her heart, which didn't make any sense. He wasn't part of the Covenant, so why did she feel like this? It was possible that he was a brother of one of the other boys, maybe that's why she felt like this, but he didn't look like any of them… Melinda shook her head and sped up. She needed to think some things through.


	6. Chasing Caleb

Later that night, while they were getting ready for bed, Melinda grilled Kate about the Sons.

"So," Melinda said casually, "Why do you call them the Sons of Ipswich? Are they a boy band or something?" Kate laughed,

"No, they're supposedly descended from 5 families that settled in the Ipswich colony in the 1600's." Melinda internally rolled her eyes; she already knew that, she just needed to know who the eldest was.

"And they're all the same age?" Kate glanced up from the mirror, and shrugged,

"Yeah, pretty much. Caleb's the oldest though, and then it's Pogue, Reid and Tyler." Melinda exhaled, so it was Caleb then. Caleb was the one she had to marry. Kate turned around to look at her roommate,

"You know, both Caleb and Reid were checking you out tonight, but if I were you, I'd go with Caleb" Melinda raised an eyebrow,

"Why?" Kate shrugged.

"He's just one of those genuinely good guys you know?" Melinda smiled to herself, Kate continued with her Caleb love-fest. "You know, he could stay here at the dorms and party with the rest of us, but instead he stays at home to take care of his Mom. She's an alcoholic, started after Caleb's Dad died a few years ago" Melinda got up and walked into the bathroom, she paused at the sink, wondering what to ask next, she obviously had to find out whether or not he was single or not.

"So, is he single?" She asked.

"So we are interested," Kate exclaimed gleefully. Melinda rolled her eyes and emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a big fluffy white towel.

"WE aren't anything. I'm just curious." Melinda said defensively. Kate raised an eyebrow, as if to say, 'Yeah right.' Melinda just shook her head and walked out of the room.

CHARMED

Melinda stood in the shower, going through the day's events in her head. Her thoughts went to Chase, and how she thought that he was her betrothed. Obviously not. Melinda ran a hand through her hair; she had to focus on getting to know Caleb, she should just forget about the whole Chase thing and move on. Suddenly, Melinda heard the sound of breaking glass behind her.

"Hello?" she called out uncertainly. No answer. 'Typical demon behavior' Melinda thought, grabbing her towel and wrapping it around her. She walked out of the shower cubical, hands raised, prepared to blow up the intruder, but there was no one there, Melinda lowered her hands, and noticed for the first time, the shards of the broken glass on the floor. Glancing up at the light fixture, she noticed that one bulb was missing; the bulb that lay at her feet. Her instincts alert, Melinda slowly got up, becoming increasingly aware that someone, or something was watching her. A tap on the shoulder caused her to whirl around, hands raised, ready to blow up whoever had just touched her; but there was no one there, Melinda had just blown up the mirror behind her.

"Shit." She muttered, placing a hand on her heart, trying to get her heart rate down. After reciting a quick spell, Melinda managed to return the mirror back to the way it was before she had blown it up. Taking one last look at the bathroom, Melinda ran back to her dorm, and shut the door behind her.

CHARMED

The next morning, Melinda was up way before Kate. They had to go shopping for some stuff for the dorm, and Kate had invited Chase last night. Melinda looked at her reflection in the mirror, she didn't look any different, and she definitely didn't look like someone's bride-to-be. Melinda winced, no matter how many times she had managed to convince her family that she was okay with the Pact. She wasn't. Not by a long shot. Melinda began to brush her long brown hair, and thought about Caleb. He was extremely attractive, there was no doubt about it; he was obviously well liked. Had she met him in another time and place, she would've been interested, but… whole Pact thing made things awkward, she already KNEW what was going to happen; she was going to marry Caleb, whether or not they liked each other. Melinda put down her brush, and frowned. The only reason she even came to Spenser was to locate and then get to know her future husband. And that was exactly what she would do. 'Caleb Danvers' Melinda thought as she began to brush her teeth, 'looks like you have a stalker on your hands.' Kate poked her head into the bathroom,

"You done?" she asked the young witch, "I kinda need to get ready." Melinda grinned and nodded. She left Kate in the bathroom, and got dressed, she decided to wear a pair of jeans, and blue tank dress, with a black cardigan, she slipped on the boots she had worn the other night, and she was ready. Realizing that Kate would be taking a really long time, Melinda sat down on her bed, and picked up Henry's guitar and began strumming, she had been playing the instrument since she was 10, before that, Piper had enrolled her three children in piano classes, so that at least someone in the family could play the beautiful antique piano that stood in the living room of the Halliwell Manor. Melinda kept strumming and before she knew it, she was singing too; all her feelings of anxiety slipping away with each note she sang.

(A/N: Here's the song if you're interested: .com/watch?v=6ovW5HmRoGE) She had been so caught up in her music; she hadn't noticed that Chase had slipped into the room undetected. When she had finished the song, she was taken aback by the slow clapping that filled the room; startled, Melinda looked up to see Chase standing in the doorway, staring at her intently,

"You're really good." He told her. Melinda blushed and cleared her throat,

"Thanks" she said, looking up at him.

"You're welcome." He said, his eyes never leaving her face. Melinda took a deep breath. There was complete silence in the room for a while. Chase's staring unnerved her. This annoyed her. 'I'm a Halliwell, for Pete's sake.' Melinda thought to herself, 'Halliwells don't get freaked out by random guys staring at them strangely.' Clearing her throat,

"You know," she said to Chase, "You could take a picture, it'll last longer." Chase raised his eyebrows, Melinda internally winced, okay, that had been a little rude, but there was something about him that set her instincts screaming. Chase opened his mouth to say something, but thankfully, Kate FINALLY came out from the bathroom,

"Hey Chase," she said with a smile, "You ready to go?" Chase turned away from Melinda and smiled at Kate,

"Yeah, let's go." Kate smiled and turned to her roommate,

"You ready?" Melinda nodded, "We're taking Chase's car." Kate walked out of the room, Chase following, ignoring Melinda. Melinda rolled her eyes, and picked up her bag and followed them out of the room.

After what seemed like the car ride of Melinda's life, they had finally reached the pharmacy. Kate and Chase started fooling around with the sunglasses that they had on display, Melinda just went about her shopping, she stopped when she noticed a discarded newspaper on the floor, kneeling down to pick it up, Melinda read the headline; a student from Spenser had been found dead of an overdose last night after the party at the Dells. Melinda frowned, to any ordinary person, the death would seem tragic, and tragic it was, but to Melinda, it seemed suspicious, her instincts told her that the death of this boy wasn't because of an overdose. She put down the paper, and made a mental note to scry for any evil supernatural activity that may be going on in Ipswich. She rounded the corner to the next aisle, and stopped when she saw Caleb talking to Kate. Taking a deep breath, she walked over to him,

"Hey." She said, smiling up at him, Caleb seemed happy to see her, his eyes lighting up when he saw her,

"Hey." He said, in his deep voice. The two stared at each other for a while, Melinda liked the way Caleb looked at her; it wasn't in the creepy way that Chase had been looking at her earlier today in the dorms; Caleb looked her and she felt everything click into place. It was a nice feeling. Kate cleared her throat and she was suddenly brought back to Earth,

"I'm gonna see if Pogue wants to catch that new Brad Pitt flick that's in town." Kate said, pulling out her phone, "Who else wants to go?"

"I will." Chase said.

"Okay," Kate looked at Caleb,

"I gotta go run some errands for my Mom" Caleb said, looking at Melinda.

"I saw it before I left." Melinda quickly supplied; it wasn't entirely a lie, she. Prue, and Henry, had gone to go see the movie as soon as it came out. Kate smirked at Melinda almost as if to say, 'Yeah. SURE you did."

"Do you feel like running errands?" Caleb asked, Melinda thought about it for a second; running errands with Caleb was the perfect opportunity to get to know him.

"Sure." She said. She quickly paid for her stuff, stashed it in Chase's car, and walked over to where Caleb was standing, besides his car. "Nice car." She said, giving the Mustang convertible a once over. Caleb grinned,

"Thanks." He said, opening the door for her. The first half of the car ride was pretty quiet; Caleb drove, and Melinda just looked at the scenery. Every once in a while, she would look over and see Caleb staring at her, she smiled at him,

"So what brings you to Spenser?" He asked; Melinda bit her lip. 'Urm. You.' She thought.

"I just needed a change of scenery I guess." She told Caleb. He raised his eyebrows, 'What a lame answer Halliwell. Jeesh." Melinda thought.

"A change of scenery huh? What's so wrong with San Francisco?" He asked.

"San Francisco was getting a little crowded. So, I decided to leave." She said, trying to come up with another lie, "Oh and my brothers friend from Harvard came to visit and he used to go to Spenser and he was talking about how great it was, so I figured, why not give it a shot?" That part wasn't completely a lie; Wyatt did go to Harvard, and some of his friends did come to see him over the course of the summer. At the mention of 'Harvard' Caleb sat up a little straighter.

"Your brother goes to Harvard?" He asked.

"Yep. Pre-Law."

"My Dad was class of '81." Caleb told her proudly.

"No way. That's so cool." Caleb grinned. Melinda reached into her bag and pulled out the camera her brothers had given her.

"Hey Caleb," she said, holding up the camera to his face, "Smile." Caleb turned around to look at her, still smiling from before, Melinda quickly took the picture before he could protest.

"Oh come on." He said, trying to take the camera off of her, "That's not cool, give it back." Melinda laughed,

"Nope. And keep your eyes on the road; I don't want to get in an accident." Caleb shook his head and went back to driving, still smiling, Melinda grinned and looked out of the window, and noticed an old, decrepit looking barn, sitting right on the side on the road. The place had an odd sense of foreboding about it, and Melinda could sense that something bad had happened there. Something really bad. Caleb noticed her gaze.

"That's the old Putnam barn." He told her, "What's left of it anyway; it's the only place for miles around that was the original Ipswich Colony." Putnam's barn. Melinda wondered if that was where the Pact had been signed. Caleb kept driving, eventually, the car pulled to a stop outside a large cottage that looked like it was falling apart.

Caleb told her in a whisper. He began to get out of the car,

"Wait, somebody LIVES here?" Melinda asked, confused. The house looked as if it hadn't been lived in for centuries.

"Oh, just our old caretaker, Gorman." Caleb said, getting out of the car. Suddenly, a shot rang out, and Melinda looked back at the house, alarmed.

"Gorman, it's me, its okay." Caleb yelled out. "He doesn't see that well anymore." He informed Melinda.

"You think?" Melinda replied laughing. Caleb shrugged and closed the car door.

"Who's with you?" An old voice rang out from the house.

"Just a friend." Caleb said. "I'll be right back okay?" Melinda nodded and watched as Caleb made his way towards the house. Pulling out her cell phone, she decided to check in with the family' after a few rings, her Mom answered the phone.

"Hey Mom," she said, leaning back in her seat.

"Melinda Prudence Halliwell!" Her Moms voice rang out, Melinda immediately held the phone away from her face. "Do you have any idea how worried we were? The next time you tell me that you're going to call, I suggest you do it! Because, I swear, the next time that you don't call, I will come over to that school myself and drag you out, Pact or not. Understood missy?"

"Yes Mom." Melinda answered meekly. Piper calmed down a little, glad that her daughter was safe,

"So?" Piper asked.

"So what?"

"So, have you found him yet?" Piper asked eager to find out who her future son-in-law was. What Melinda didn't know was that her two Aunts, Phoebe and Paige were huddled over the phone, also interested in their nieces' future husband. Melinda sighed,

"Yes, Mom. I met him yesterday. His name is Caleb Danvers." Piper paused, going over the name in her head.

"And?" Piper pressed, "What do you think of him? What's he like?"

"Well..." Melinda began, not really sure where to start, "He's really nice. He's mature for his age, I guess, nothing like other boys our age. He's also… extremely attractive." Melinda finished with a grin. Piper smiled and looked up at her sisters; Paige looked relived that her niece didn't have to marry someone she didn't like, and Phoebe looked extremely pleased with herself, almost as if she knew that Melinda would say something like that.

"Urm, Mom." Melinda began, seeing Caleb leave the house and begin walked towards the car. "I have to go."

"Wait," Piper began, the pieces falling into place, "are you with him right NOW?"

"Yep, Mom, I have to go. Love you. Bye!" Melinda hung up the phone before Piper could say anything else. Seconds later, Melinda got a text from her Mom, telling her to be careful and to take care of herself. Caleb slid into the car.

"So, do you want to shower or change first?" He asked.

"For what?" Melinda looked at him in confusion.

"We're going to Nicky's." Caleb looked at her.

"What's Nicky's?" Melinda asked. Caleb laughed and started the car.

CHARMED

It turned out that Nicky's was a bar. Caleb dropped Melinda off at the dorms where she quickly got ready, changing into a green and blue maxi dress. She slung on her leather jacket, applied a little make-up and she was good to go. If she had any doubts about how she looked, Caleb's eyes when he saw her erased them. It was obvious to the witch, that Caleb thought she looked good, and that was good enough for her. When they got to Nicky's, the two of them joined Kate and Chase at a table and started talking to them. A few minutes later, Pogue showed up, a little pissed to see his girlfriend talking to and laughing with another guy. Kate didn't seem to notice though,

"Hey baby." She said, kissing her boyfriend on the cheek, "You missed a great movie."

"Yeah, I had to get the bike fixed." Pogue said.

"Well that's okay, Chase came and kept me company."

"I just bet he did." Pogue said, shrugging off his jacket, "Sup man." He said, bumping fists with Caleb.

"It's all good." Caleb said. Melinda could practically FEEL the waves of jealously rolling of Pogue, and she wasn't even an empath. Pogue leaned down to look at Kate,

"You want something?" He asked her.

"No, I'll just pick at whatever you're having." Pogue nodded and went off to get his food. Kate apologized to Chase.

"It's cool." He said, "Hey Caleb. Up for some foozeball?" He asked. Caleb smiled.

"Sure." And the two boys went off to play foozeball, leaving the girls to talk.

"So, what was THAT about?" Melinda asked Kate, referring to the awkward moment with Pogue. Kate rolled her eyes.

"He can get insanely jealous sometimes." She said, taking a sip of her drink "It's so annoying." Melinda smiled,

"He cares about you a lot you know. Jealousy can be a good thing sometimes." Kate shrugged,

"Whatever." She looked over to where Pogue and Caleb were playing foozeball, "Boys and their toys huh?" Melinda grinned,

"I have an idea." She said, getting up and motioning for Kate to follow her, "Do you have a quarter?" Kate handed over a quarter skeptically, and followed Melinda to the jukebox. "Pick a song." Melinda told her. Kate grinned and picked a song. One of her favorites. The jukebox began blaring out the song and the two girls smiled when the whole bar began cheering. They started to dance in the hopes that it might distract the boys from their foozeball game and it worked; within the first few seconds of the song starting, Melinda felt someone grab her hand, and twirl her around to face them; it was Caleb.

"Hi" He said, grinning as the two began dance. They were in their own little world, it was only when the sound of glass breaking, caught their ears did they turn around and see, Reid, pushing Aaron over at the pool tables, it looked as if a fight was brewing,

"I have to go." Caleb said, kissing Melinda on the cheek, "Bring my jacket" He said to Pogue and walked towards the fight. Chase made a move to go, but Pogue told him to stay with her and Kate. Yeah right. Pretending to go to the bathroom, Melinda discreetly followed the boys to the back. She quickly cast an Invisibility Spell and slipped out of the door and stood in a corner, where she could watch everything. Aaron and his friends had gone, leaving the Sons of Ipswich behind.

"What were you thinking?" She saw Caleb asking Reid. Reid shrugged,

"We were just playing him"

"Yeah, come on Caleb, they were suckers for it" Tyler said. Reid walked up to Caleb,

"Why don't you quit being such a pussy." Reid said, starting to walk away. Caleb stopped him with a hand on his shoulder,

"I'm not finished with you yet." Melinda watched in amazement as Reid's eyes began to turn black. Almost like a demons would. He seemed to be crushing Caleb's hand.

"Reid." Caleb said, struggling to breathe. "Stop." Suddenly, Caleb sent Reid flying through the air, until he hit a wall. "What will it take for you to get it?" Caleb said, as Reid slid to the ground. "It's addictive, you moron. You've seen what can happen if you abuse it, you want that, that's your business." He yelled at Reid, who was still struggling to get up. Caleb continued with his speech,

"But if you Use in the open like you did tonight, you risk exposing us all. And that I won't let happen" Caleb finished. Reid telekinetically lifted a nearby beer barrel,

"My powers greater than yours." Caleb told him.

"Not until you Ascend." Melinda's ears perked up; Ascend? What did THAT mean, she made another mental note to call her Dad and ask him to ask the Elders what that meant. She went back to listening to the boys.

"Alright, tough guy." Caleb said, "Bring it on." Reid threw the trash can at Caleb who deflected it and then sent Reid sailing through the air, where he eventually crashed into the crates of beer. Caleb began walking towards Reid, but Pogue ran forward and stopped him,

"Stop this! This is crazy"

"It's for his own good!" Caleb yelled. "Keep Using like you did tonight; like you did last night, when you Ascend, you're as good as dead." Reid, who had gotten up from the crates of beer, with the help of Tyler, looked up at Caleb,

"So I fixed her car. Big deal!" Melinda cursed under her breath; so, she had been right, Reid HAD used magic to fix her car.

"Don't play me Reid, I'm talking about later and you know it." Caleb said. Later? What had happened later? Melinda wondered; were they talking about that dead kid?

"The hell I do!" Reid strode up to Caleb. "I didn't use later." Reid walked angrily back to the bar, narrowly avoiding hitting Melinda, who decided that it was time to go back inside, she had seen enough. She went back inside, removed the Invisibility Spell she had put on herself. Melinda walked back to the door, and saw Caleb and Pogue talking.

"Hey," she called. "Let's get out of here."

"Yeah," Caleb said, "let's go."

The drive back to Spenser was relatively quiet, Caleb, obviously still thinking about the fight with Reid. They pulled up to her dorm,

"Thanks for a great day." Melinda turned to Caleb, "I had fun"

"Yeah, me too." He said, "Listen, I'm sorry about Gorman, he's not used to seeing me with anyone." Melinda smiled,

"I'll think I'll live" Caleb laughed,

"Truth is, you're the first person I've ever brought up there." He told her. Melinda raised her eyebrows.

"And why is that?" She asked, he looked her,

"I'm not quite sure yet." Grinning, Melinda got out of the car,

"Good night." She said, before turning back and running into the dorms. Caleb smiled and drove away.

CHARMED

A/N: Whoa, that was a long chapter. So let me know what you think, keep reviewing, reviews make me happy. The next chapter will have a Chase POV, because he has some pretty interesting things to say. Hehe. Review, review, review!


	7. Lucky Man

A/N: Okay, first of all, I'd like to thank all of my reviewers, ESPECIALLY Dark-Supernatural-Angel, who reviews every chapter and has given me great ideas for this chapter. So thank you, this chapter is dedicated to you! Here it is, Chapter 6. This chapter is pretty heavy with Melinda/Chase action, with Chase becoming a creepy stalker. Heh. So, keep reviewing people! I like reviews, reviews keep me writing and updating quicker.

Chase Collins angrily paced the floor of his dorm room; his eyes black with rage. He sat down on his neatly made bed and inhaled sharply, he had known from the minute he had seen her at that bonfire that she was the One. The One the journal had told him about. Chase had found Putnam's journal buried beneath the old Putnam barn; as he read through it, the page that mentioned the Pact caught his eye. At the time, he decided to kill the Covenant before worrying about the Pact, but then he saw HER. And realized that fate had brought them together. So Chase decided to follow her, to make sure was WORTHY enough to be his wife. The moment she had blown up that mirror with a single flick of her hand, any doubts he had had about her were erased from his mind; the next morning, however, when he walked into her dorm room, and she had been rude to him, Chase resolved to win her over, he had HOPED to do that after they went shopping. But then Caleb Danvers entered the picture, and ruined everything! Chase had seen the way the Danvers son had looked at Melinda, and the way she looked at him; when Melinda looked at Chase, all he saw in her eyes was distrust. This made him angry; something else made Chase angry; it had taken all of his self-control not to tackle Caleb right there in that bar, when he saw the two of them dancing together. Chase got up from his bed and walked over to the mirror and smiled; he wanted Melinda Halliwell, and Caleb Danvers aside, Chase Collins ALWAYS got what he wanted.

CHARMED

Melinda looked at her new uniform in distaste. She turned to the side to see her reflection in the mirror, pretty pleased with what she saw. She gathered her hair into a messy ponytail and stood back. Taking a deep breath and grabbed her school stuff and made her way to her first class of the day, not knowing what to expect.

Two Hours Later:

Melinda struggled under the weight of the numerous books in her arms,

"Stupid school, stupid Pact," The witch muttered as she finally reached her locker and was now attempting to open her locker without dropping her books. She took a step back and bumped into something hard, which caused her to jump up and drop all of her books.

"Great." Melinda muttered. "Just great." Glaring, she turned to look at whoever had been standing behind her; she turned to see Chase standing, arms crossed over his chest, smirking at her.

"You dropped your books."He told her, staring at her in that creepy way, that he normally stared at her.

"No shit, Chase." Melinda said, as she bent down to pick up her books, "I wouldn't have even dropped them if you hadn't been standing behind me." She looked up at Chase, only to find he was kneeling down opposite her, helping her pick up her books. "Thanks." She said as she shoved the last book in her locker and slammed the door shut. Chase was leaning up against the lockers,

"Was there something you WANTED Chase?" Melinda asked, warily; it had been a really long day and she really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone right now. Caleb had asked her out to dinner tonight, so she had an a few hours to shower and change and maybe, squeeze in a few hours of sleep. Chase was seriously cutting into her time here.

"You don't like me very much do you?" Chase said, staring at her intently.

"Now, what gave you that idea?" She asked sarcastically, folding her arms across her chest and looking up at him. Chase smiled,

"I'd like to change that." He said, leaning down, to look her in the eyes, "Over dinner. Tonight." For a second, Melinda couldn't speak, his startling blue eyes disarming her. Shaking her head to regain her composure, Melinda cleared her throat,

"I can't." She told him, avoiding eye contact. "I have dinner with Caleb tonight." Chase shot her a sad smile,

"Right Caleb." He said, taking a few steps back. "I guess some other time then?" Melinda nodded, relieved that he was going away. Chase smiled at her and walked away. As soon as he had disappeared around the corner, Melinda slid down to the floor and rested her head against her locker, willing her heart rate to go down. Chase had the strangest affect on her, it was worrying really, considering, she was engaged to Caleb.

She pulled out her cellphone and decided to bring in the experts. Scrolling through her phonebook, she found the number she was looking for and dialed,

"Hey, you've reached Coop. I can't pick up the phone right now; I'm busy making people fall in love!" Melinda smiled as she heard her Uncles familiar voice. "So leave a message and I'll try to get back to you." The voicemail beeped, Melinda took a deep breath and began,

"Hey, Uncle Coop, it's me, Melinda. Urm, I'm kinda confused about some stuff and I need your advice, so call me as soon as you can okay? Love you. Bye." Melinda hung up the phone and bent her head down.

"Hey, are you okay?" Melinda looked up to see Tyler looking down at her, concern written all over his face,

"Yeah, I'm fine." Melinda told the boy, trying to convince herself, more than anything that she was okay. Tyler frowned, not convinced; he sat down besides Melinda, placing his gym bag on the floor besides him. Melinda looked up at the youngest son; this was the first time he had spoken more than two words to her since they'd met. Even with the rest of the Covenant, Tyler was quiet. Melinda wondered if there was more to his silence than it seemed,

"You look kinda freaked out." Tyler said quietly. He looked at Melinda's profile, wondering what was going on inside her head, Tyler knew that Caleb was infatuated with her, but Tyler was still not sure if she felt the same way about Caleb. There was something mysterious about her, something she was hiding, Tyler wondered what it was. Melinda turned to look at Tyler,

"Everything's so… DIFFERENT here." She told him quietly. And it was. She missed San Francisco and wished that the Pact had never been mentioned. She missed her family, they were everything to her, and sitting here, she had never felt so ALONE. So lonely. Tyler nodded in understanding. Spenser worked its students harder than most schools. He wasn't as smart as Caleb or Pogue, but he was in the top half of his class, but nobody really cared. His Mother had died when he was a baby and his Dad had died when Tyler had been 15 from Using the Power way too much. Tyler lived in the dorms, and hoped to take over the family business when he graduated. Tyler was alone, and he got the sense that the girl sitting beside him was just as alone as he was.

CHARMED

Later that night, Melinda was getting ready for her date with Caleb when her phone rang,

"Hey Uncle Coop." she answered the phone, walking over to her bed and sitting down on it.

"Hey kiddo!" Coop's voice rang out over the phone. "What's wrong?" Melinda paused, not knowing how to begin,

"Well, I've met my... you know..." Melinda trailed off, not wanting to say that word out loud

"Fiancée?" Coop supplied.

"Yeah," Melinda continued, "And he's great. And I like him, and he likes me, so there's no problem there. But… there's this other guy. When I first saw him, I thought that HE was the one I had to marry, because there was this feeling that I had in my heart that he was the one. But he's not, and I tried to forget about it, but whenever he's around, I get the weirdest feeling, my heart starts beating faster, and-" Melinda broke off. "Are you still there Uncle Coop?"

"Yeah, I'm still there." Coop said. "Okay honey, I was talking to the Elders about what your relationship with your fiancée is supposed to be like, and the feelings you're describing for this other guy, they're the ones you're supposed to be having for your fiancée."

"But… what does THAT mean?" Melinda asked, confused. Coop sighed over the phone,

"I don't know honey. I really don't know. I'll ask your Aunt to look into it okay?" Melinda sighed,

"Okay Uncle Coop, I guess so. Bye."

"Bye sweetie, take care of yourself okay?"

"Yeah, I will. Bye." Melinda hung up the phone and sighed. She checked her watch, and realized that she only had five minutes to get ready for her date. "Shit." She muttered and quickly got ready.

CHARMED

Melinda glanced at Caleb staring at her from across the table,

"What?" She asked. Caleb shook his head and leaned over the table,

"You seem distracted." He noted. Melinda sighed; her talk with her Uncle didn't exactly go over like she'd hoped it would, if anything, it had made her MORE confused.

"I'm sorry," she told Caleb, "I must be like the worst date ever." Caleb laughed,

"No, you're not." He said, his voice dropping an octave, "Not by a long shot." He held her gaze for a while; Melinda blushed and looked down,

"So," she began, trying to change the subject, "Tell me about you." Caleb leaned back in his chair,

"Well, I've lived in Ipswich my whole life, I'm an only child, and…" Caleb paused, "That's about it." He finished with a grin. "What about you?" He asked. "Tell me all about YOU."

"Urm, I was born and raised in San Francisco; I have two older brothers and a bunch of younger cousins. I play the piano and the guitar. I try to sing too. My favourite thing in the whole wide world is my iPod." Melinda finished with a smile.

"So you're a musician then?" Caleb said with a smile on his face, "You know, we have this antique piano at my house that nobody plays anymore. You can come over and play it any time you want." Melinda smiled at him,

"Thanks." Caleb looked down at her wrist and frowned,

"Interesting bracelet." Caleb said, picking up her wrist and examining the charm bracelet. Melinda winced, she had had that charm bracelet since she was 5 and every year, her parents would give her a new charm for the bracelet. But that wasn't the problem, the problem was that the bracelet had a few charms that could raise eyebrows; the Pentagram for example, and of course the Triquetra, a couple of demon hunter friends of her Aunt Billie's had given her a few more occult symbols. Melinda looked up at Caleb, trying to gauge his reaction; his fingers were toying with the Pentagram, his expression was surprisingly neutral.

"My Godmother gave it to me." Melinda lied through her teeth, "She's kind of into that sort of thing." Caleb looked at her,

"Right." He said a small smile on his face. He dropped the bracelet and motioned for the waiter to bring the check. Melinda slumped back in her seat, exhausted from all the lying she had to do.

CHARMED

Caleb stopped the car in front of her dorms, he turned to Melinda,

"So, about Saturday?" He asked.

"What about Saturday?" Melinda smiled at him.

"It's the fall-fest." Melinda smiled,

"Is this you trying to ask me to be your date?" Caleb laughed,

"Is it that obvious?" He asked; Melinda nodded. He smiled, "So will you go with me then?" Melinda pretended to consider,

"Hmm…"

"It's also my birthday on Saturday if it helps." Caleb said, Melinda sucked in a breath; his 18th. How could've she forgotten that?

"I'd love to go with you." She told him, Caleb smiled in relief. Melinda turned to go,

"Wait," He said, grabbing onto her hand. Melinda turned back around, confused. Slowly, Caleb began to move, closer, until their faces were just inches apart. She could feel his breath in her face; he was waiting for her to make the next move. Without thinking, Melinda kissed him. The kiss grew more heated as Caleb let go of her hand to grab her face, Melinda placed her arms around his neck, the sound of her phone ringing brought them both back down to earth. Melinda broke away from Caleb, and looking through her back trying to find the phone, she finally found it and looked down at the caller ID. It was her Aunt Phoebe. She looked up at Caleb,

"I should get this," She said, turning to leave the car, "I'll talk to you later, okay?" Caleb nodded. "Bye." She quickly ran out of the car and ran inside. Once she was inside, she answered her phone,

"Hey Aunt Pheebs. What's up?"

"Hey sweetie, are you okay?" Her aunt's voice was full of concern. Melinda scrunched up her face in confusion, making her way to her dorm room,

"I'm fine, why? Did you have a vision?" Melinda stopped in her tracks, realizing that that could be the only reason why her Aunt would call. Phoebe paused on the other end,

"There's this guy at your school. He's tall, with brown curly hair and really blue eyes. Do you know him?" Melinda was pacing the hallway; her Aunt had just described Chase.

"Yeah, his name is Chase. What about him?"

"How much do you know about him?"

"Not much. He's a transfer student. Kind of a jerk. Why?"

"Listen Melinda, STAY AWAY from him do you understand?" Phoebe's voice was urgent.

"Why, what did you see?"

"I can't tell you. It's something you have to figure out yourself." Melinda rolled her eyes.

"Aunt Pheebs, I can't keep my guard up if I don't know what I'm keeping it up for." Phoebe sighed,

"I know. I wish I could tell you more, but I can't." Melinda had finally reached her dorm room and stood outside it.

"It's okay. I'll talk to you later okay Aunt Pheebs?"

"Take care of yourself honey." Her aunt said as she hung up. Melinda paused for a moment outside her door. She needed to do some more digging on Chase. He was hiding something; she just knew it. And she'd find out exactly what it was.

A/N: So, what did you think? Did I get Chase right? Let me know! And the more reviews I get, the more motivated I am to update faster. So keep reviewing.


	8. Wicked Game

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Chase really is becoming more and more of creepy stalker. Haha. So, in this chapter, Melinda will call in some back-up in the form of a family member or two. =D

Melinda opened the door, and saw Kate pacing furiously around the room,

"Urm Kate?" Melinda said cautiously, "Is everything okay?" Kate whirled around to look at her roommate.

"Pogue and I had a fight." She said flatly. Melinda went over to her bed and began getting ready for bed,

"What about?" Melinda called from the bathroom.

"Chase." Melinda walked back into the room, in her pajamas, her face screwed up in confusion,

"Is this about the movie thing?" Melinda flopped down on her bed and pulled out her laptop and camera; she had to send some pictures of Caleb to Prue. She looked over at Kate,

"I don't know," she said shaking her head, "You know; he's been jealous since the day we met. It drives me crazy." Melinda smiled to herself. "I hate him when he's like this."

"You don't hate Pogue." Melinda told her roommate, "You guys are perfect for each other."

"Maybe not." Kate said, getting into bed, "Maybe it's time to check out something new."

"And maybe that's what Pogue's picking up on." Melinda sent the pictures to Prue and turned off her computer. She looked over at Kate and made sure that the girl was asleep before pulling out the map of Ipswich she had gotten from the school library. Taking out a scrying crystal, Melinda began to move the crystal around the page; hoping to catch some sort of supernatural activity. Suddenly the crystal pinpointed an exact location. Melinda stared at the location in shock for a few moments; it was Spenser. Spenser was the centre for all the evil supernatural activity. Melinda sat back in her bed and processed the information. She remembered her Aunts warning about Chase, and wondered if he could be the one behind everything. Melinda turned off her light, and promised to look into Chase's past tomorrow.

CHARMED

The next, Melinda tried to avoid Chase, and she did, for the most part. After the last class of the day, homework done, Melinda rounded the corner to her locker only to find Chase leaning up against her locker, waiting for her. Melinda bit back a groan and turned around to walk away, hoping that Chase hadn't seen her. Too late.

"Melinda!" he called out following her. Melinda looked around for a quick escape route, suddenly a hand shot out and pulled her into a dark hallway, Melinda watched as Chase walked straight past her. Breathing a sigh of relief, Melinda turned to thank her savior.

"Reid?" Melinda raised her eyebrows. The blonde Son of Ipswich took a drag from his cigarette and leant back against the wall,

"The one and only." He smirked. "Want one?" He asked, offering her a cigarette. Melinda shook her head and dropped her books on the floor,

"Why did you pull me in here?" Reid rolled his eyes,

"You looked like you needed saving." He told her, "Why were you running from Chase anyway?" he asked.

"He just creeps me out." Melinda replied with a shrug. Reid nodded.

"Pogue doesn't like him either." The boy told her.

"What about you?" Melinda asked him, leaning against the wall, Reid took another drag of his cigarette,

"I don't know." He said, shrugging, "I don't really have anything against him. He beat Caleb in a race today." He finished. Melinda raised an eyebrow,

"And that makes you happy? Seeing Caleb getting his ass kicked?"

"Caleb thinks he owns us. Just because he's the oldest. It can get pretty annoying." Melinda stared at him for a few seconds. Reid sighed, "Look, Caleb's like my older brother. I'd never hurt him, but I just wish that wouldn't treat me like a kid you know?" Melinda smiled; she and Chris used to say the same thing about Wyatt when they were growing up. Reid pushed himself away from the wall and put out his cigarette.

"Well, if you'll excuse me." He said, "I have a very attractive girl waiting for me in a janitor's closet somewhere." He smirked. Melinda rolled her eyes at him. Reid bent down and picked up her books.

"And they say chivalry is dead." Melinda said, raising her eyebrows at this different side of Reid.

"They obviously haven't met me yet." He said, grinning. "Catch you later Halliwell." He said, walking away, Melinda stared at his retreating back.

"See you around Garwin." She whispered under her breath before making her way back to her dorm.

CHARMED

That night, Melinda paced her dorm. Kate had gone to the infirmary because she hadn't been feeling well; and Caleb was busy doing some stuff, god knows what that meant. So she had time, to go find Chase's file. Dressed in black from head to toe, Melinda made her way to the admissions office, after freezing the night guard from behind, Melinda was able to sneak in. Cautiously, she made her way to the filing cabinet, noticing that it was open, Melinda looked through it, trying to find Chase's file. It wasn't there. Closing the cabinet, Melinda sighed and walked out of the office, not even bothering to look up at the ceiling where, had she looked; she would've found Caleb and Pogue lying up on the ceiling.

A few minutes earlier:

Caleb and Pogue had been looking through Chase Collins's file when they saw a beam of light coming through the door. They quickly shot up to the ceiling and waited for the guard to come in; it never happened. Instead, the two boys watched in amazement as they saw Melinda open the door and rifle through the filing cabinet. Pogue looked at Caleb who just looked at the girl in confusion. 'What was she looking for?' Caleb wondered; he made a mental note to ask her after they had cracked the mystery of Chase Collins. Caleb frowned; he knew that there was something that she wasn't telling him. But that was okay, because he had a secret of his own too. He hoped that when he told her his, she'd be able to tell him hers.

CHARMED

Melinda walked as fast as she could away from the administrative offices and made her way to the infirmary to check on Kate; Melinda looked around her to make sure that she was alone,

"Prue! Henry!" The witch hissed under her breath, shivering from the cold. She waited a few seconds before she noticed the blue and pink lights that signaled the arrival of her cousins, Prue looked around and squealed when she saw her cousin,

"Melinda! OMG, I saw the pictures of Caleb; he's GORGEOUS." Prue ran over to hug Melinda, Henry grinned and made his way over to the hugging girls and wrapped them both in a bear hug,

"We've missed you Mel." He said, "Our little group isn't the same without you." Melinda smiled,

"I've missed you guys too." Henry looked around at his surroundings and whistled when he saw the huge campus,

"This is a SCHOOL?" He asked incredulously. Melinda nodded. "Damn."

"Okay, guys. I need your help." Melinda got her cousins attention, "There's this guy. His name is Chase Collins and I have a really bad feeling about him. PLUS, Prue, your Mom called and told me to stay away from him, but she was being all cryptic and wouldn't tell me why." Prue snorted,

"That's because the Elders won't let her to tell you. They said its part of your destiny or something to find out for yourself." Melinda rolled her eyes; the Elders were always pulling bullshit like that.

"Anyway," Melinda continued, "I broke into the admissions office to find his file, but it wasn't there; the Provost must have it or something. And my roommate is sick, so I'm gonna go check on her and I kinda need you guys to do some more digging on Chase." Melinda finished.

"What exactly do you mean by digging?" Henry asked. Melinda paused for a moment, thinking it over,

"Go through his dorm room; Prue, you can distract him if he's there. He's kind of a creep, so watch out. Call me if you guys get anything okay?" Prue and Henry nodded, "Okay, his dorm number is 311. The dorms are that way." Melinda turned towards the infirmary. Prue's voice stopped her,

"Come on, we HAVE to do the huddle." Melinda and Henry exchanged looks, "For good luck!" Prue said defensively. Melinda, Prue and Henry huddled up in a circle and placed their hands on top of another,

"BREAK!" The three of them broke away and went their separate ways, each of them smiling at the pure cheese factor of the huddle that they used to do when they were kids.

CHARMED

Melinda looked at Kate through the glass partition, worry etched all over her face, the doctor had said that she was suffering a severe allergic reaction, almost as if she had been bitten by thousands of spiders. Melinda had this strange feeling that this sudden illness wasn't because Kate had been bitten by spiders, there weren't even that many spiders at Spenser, much less of the biting variety. There was something else going on here. Melinda looked around her to make sure that nobody was looking,

"Wyatt! Chris!" Melinda whispered. Within seconds, her older brothers appeared in a flurry of blue lights, their faces lighting up when they saw their little sister.

"Mel!" They both yelled and gathered up into the biggest hug ever.

"Guys." Melinda gasped. "Can't. Breathe." Wyatt and Chris let go, their expressions sheepish.

"So, how's CALEB." Wyatt's eyes narrowed when he mentioned his future brother-in-law. "Prue showed us his picture; he looks like a serious player if you ask me." Melinda rolled her eyes,

"We can talk about Caleb later. Right now I need you to heal my roommate." Melinda pointed to Kate through the partition. "There's something seriously wrong with her, like magically wrong." Wyatt and Chris exchanged glances and orbed into Kate's room. Melinda watched as Wyatt placed his hands over her sleeping roommate, and saw the familiar white glow of healing light. Melinda waited for Kate to wake up. But she didn't. Wyatt frowned and removed his hands, he motioned for Chris to try, Melinda watched as Chris repeated the same process as Wyatt had done. After a while, Chris shook his head and removed his hands. Wyatt and Chris orbed back out, their faces full of worry.

"We couldn't heal her." Wyatt paced the hallway, "You were right though. Someone's definitely put a spell on her."

"What kind of spell?" Wyatt stopped, and frowned.

"I don't know. I've never come across this kind of magic before. It's some serious Dark Magic."

"Look, Wyatt and I will go check out some of the books at Magic School." Chris supplied, "In the meantime, keep your guard up okay?" Melinda nodded and hugged her brothers before they orbed off. Melinda stood back as a group of Doctors and Nurses lifted Kate onto a gurney; they were taking her to a nearby hospital. As Melinda watched as her friend was lifted onto an ambulance, Melinda whipped out her phone and called Caleb. He picked up after the third ring,

"Hey," his voice was hushed, "Could I-"

"Caleb." Melinda started, "Kate's in the hospital."

"Wait what?"

"The doctors say it was as if she'd been bitten by thousands of spiders, but there aren't any spiders in Spenser that bite and-"

"Melinda," Caleb interrupted. "I want you to go to your dorm and lock the door; I'll be over as soon as I can." Melinda raised her eyebrows; Caleb obviously knew something.

"Okay." Melinda told him, hanging up. Melinda grabbed Kate's stuff and walked over to her dorm room. She opened the door to find Prue and Henry lying on her bed, going through an old book, with several other oldish looking books surrounding them.

"Hey guys." Melinda shrugged off her coat and sat down at the end of her bed, "Did you get all that stuff from Chase's room?" Prue nodded.

"Yep." She said, "He wasn't at home, so that made things easier." Prue sniggered.

"So? Find anything interesting?"

"As a matter of fact we did." Henry started, "Chase Collins was born on July 14th. He was adopted."

"He's older than Caleb." Prue told her. "Just remember that."

"Okay… And?" Melinda pressed. Prue and Henry looked at each other.

"Well, we were going through his stuff and the first thing we found was this," Prue held up the old journal and handed it over to Melinda to read. Melinda opened the first page to find, written in calligraphy, the words: 'Property of John Putnam.' Melinda looked up at her cousins.

"What's Chase doing with Putnam's journal?"

"I know right?" Prue continued, "That's what we said. So, we went through the journal and we found out that Putnam used to visit this widow at night as an incubus. "

"And then we found this." Henry held up another old book, "It was on loan from the local library. The book lists births and deaths during the Witch Hunts. And this widow-"Henry looked down at Putnam's journal, "Goody Pope was widowed in June, and her son, Hagan, was born in April the next year." Henry paused, "That's like 10 months after her husband had died." Melinda processed the information,

"But then- then that means that the Putnam's bloodline didn't end at Salem. That means that the fifth Son of the Covenant is still alive." Melinda paused. "But what does this have to do with Chase?"

"Remember we told you that he was adopted?" Prue said. Melinda nodded, "Well, his birth name is Chase Goodwin Pope. POPE. Mel." Melinda slowly got up from her bed, the pieces beginning to fall into place. Chase was the fifth Son. Chase was the one who had put the spell on Kate. Suddenly, something Prue had said earlier, clicked in her mind. 'He's older than Caleb.' Prue had said. So Chase the fifth Son, AND the oldest. That meant…

"Oh my God.' Melinda breathed, pacing up and down. "It was Chase all along; Chase is the one I have to marry." Melinda paused and scrunched up her nose at the thought of being married to Chase. "Eww." It was just her luck to get saddled with evil psycho maniac. Prue couldn't help but laugh at her cousins' expression.

"It could be worse; at least you know he's into you." Prue paused. "And I mean, REALLY into you." Melinda looked at her cousin confused,

"What are you talking about?"

"We found pictures of you EVERYWHERE. It looked like he had taken them while he was hiding in the bushes somewhere. It was creepy." Prue shuddered. Melinda took a deep breath,

"So what do I do now? I don't want to marry Chase; he's creepy." Henry looked up at the ceiling,

"We could ask our Moms. Maybe they'd know what to do." Melinda nodded.

"Okay, do that. Oh, and can you guys put his stuff back before he finds out that it's gone?" Melinda asked. Prue nodded, with a wave of her hand, Chase's stuff disappeared in a flash of pink light, back to where it had originally been. Melinda hugged her cousins and watched as they orbed and hearted back home.

CHARMED

After her cousins had left, Melinda paced the floor wondering what to do about the whole Chase situation. Now that she knew who he really was, everything had begun make sense; the feelings she had for him when they had first met, the way he made her feel. He was her fiancée. Not Caleb. Melinda groaned and put her head in her hands, she really liked Caleb, and she had finally reconciled herself to spending the rest of her life with him; but now, she was imagining marrying Chase, kissing Chase… Melinda shuddered as someone knocked on the door. 'It must be Caleb' she thought as she walked over to the door. When the door swung open, it wasn't Caleb who stood on the other side; it was Chase.

"Chase." Melinda said flatly, leaning against the doorway. Chase smirked.

"I thought you might need some company tonight, you know because Kate is sick." Melinda raised her eyebrows,

"And why would you care about Kate?" she asked him, "You are the one who put that spell on her." Chase smirked, and his eyes turned black, Melinda put out her hands to freeze him, but with a flick of his hand, Melinda was telekinetically thrown across the room. Chase closed the door,

"You know," he said, pinning Melinda to wall telekinetically, "this evening could've gone in a completely different direction." Chase smiled and walked over to where Melinda was struggling against the bonds that held her to the wall.

"Let me go." She said to him. Chase gave her the once over,

"Promise not to blow me up?" Melinda nodded reluctantly. "Good." Chase's eyes returned to their normal colour and Melinda dropped to the floor. Melinda got up and glared at Chase who was lounging on her bed, strumming on her guitar,

"What do you want?" Melinda asked him, slowly edging towards the door. Chase smirked and walked towards her. Melinda backed away, until she felt her back hit the door; there was nowhere left to run. Chase got closer and closer until his face was inches away from hers,

"I thought that was obvious." He said, his breath tickling her face. "I want you." Chase placed his hands on the wall, either side of her face, effectively trapping her.

"Well, get in line buddy. I'm taken." She said with as much attitude as she could manage. Chase laughed.

"Caleb's not the one for you Melinda. I am. We're destined for each other, you and I. The Pact's bound us forever." Melinda looked up at him; so he knew about the Pact then. Melinda was quiet for a few seconds, wondering what to do next.

"You're right." Melinda said quietly. "You can't change fate." She said flatly. Chase smirked,

"No, you can't." He said. He paused, his eyes her going over her face, "You know, we'd make a great couple." Melinda resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and looked away. Suddenly she felt Chase's lips on hers. Melinda stood there, frozen as Chase explored the inside of her mouth with his tongue. Melinda smiled against his lips, which Chase took as sign that she was enjoying herself and he deepened the kiss, Melinda was actually smiling because she had come up with a plan; she slowly raised her knee to abruptly knee him in the groin. Chase broke off the kiss with a groan and bent over, Melinda used the distraction to run to the door, she flung herself out of the door to find herself in Caleb's arms.

"Caleb." She breathed in relief. Caleb took in her rumpled appearance and forgot everything that was going on; with Pogue and Chase; he was just worried for her.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Melinda opened her mouth to speak. But at that moment, Chase, who had recovered from the previous blow, interrupted.

"Caleb." He smirked. "Perfect timing. Come in." Melinda looked at Caleb, pleading with her eyes, to make him just walk away. But it was too late, Caleb launched himself at Chase. As the boys rolled around on the floor, knocking over furniture, Melinda quickly closed the door and stood there, wondering how to break up the fight; eventually, she managed to pull Caleb off of Chase.

"Stop it. He's not worth it." Melinda struggled to hold him back. Chase got up and touched his cut lip,

"You know, I should really be the one beating YOU to a pulp Caleb. First of all, you're a member of that stupid Covenant and then I have to watch you making out with MY fiancée." Chase shook his head, "You have serious anger management issues my friend." Chase lay down on Kate's bed and put his arm on the headboard. Caleb looked at Melinda,

"What's he talking about?" Melinda looked up at him; she had to tell him, now that Chase had opened that door. She opened her mouth to answer, when Chase interrupted her AGAIN,

"You mean, she never TOLD you?" Chase asked. When Caleb didn't answer, Chase laughed, "Allow me to enlighten you my friend, take a seat." Caleb sat down on Melinda's bed, his arms settled protectively around Melinda. Chase began his story,

"It all began in Ipswich, 1962. A young witch with remarkable abilities was sentenced to burn at the stake at Salem. Her name was Melinda Warren. Now, Melinda had a young daughter who she needed to protect. So, she came to the Covenant at Ipswich for help. She asked the Covenant to protect her daughter; Putnam rightfully asked for something in exchange. He wanted her power. But Melinda,-" Chase glared at the modern day Melinda, "needed her powers to make a prophecy, about future generations of her line, see she vowed that each generation of her family would grow stronger and stronger culminating in the arrival of three sisters who would be the most powerful force of good the world has ever known; they would be called the Charmed Ones. Now the Covenant wanted to know about the generation after the Charmed Ones; their children. Melinda presumed that they would be more powerful than their mothers. Putnam realized that he had an opportunity. To have access to Melinda's power once and for all, so Putnam agreed to take care of Melinda's daughter in exchange for a Pact. An agreement. That the eldest daughter of the Charmed Line will be married to the eldest son of the Covenant within 6 months of her 18th birthday, or Melinda's line will die out. And that the eldest son of the Covenant will marry the eldest daughter of the Charmed line within 6 months of his 18th birthday, or the Power is broken forever." Chase finished his story and sat back, "And so we've come full circle."

Caleb looked at Melinda in confusion; Chase was the oldest son of the Covenant. But what did that have to do with Melinda? Melinda looked up at Caleb, and answered his unspoken question,

"I'm the eldest daughter of the Charmed Line." She told him quietly. "I came here looking for my fiancée." Melinda looked up at Caleb and her heart almost broke at the expression on his face, he looked so hurt. So BETRAYED.

"All this time I thought-"He broke off, looking away, "Why did you lie to me?" Chase rolled his eyes,

"Yeah, okay, we've got it; Melinda's been a bad girl, I'll be sure to punish her later." Chase said with a grin. Melinda glared at him, "Now, Melinda honey, why do you let the men do all the talking?" Melinda was about to verbally assault Chase, when all of a sudden his eyes went black and Melinda found that everything around her became black. The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was Calebs hurt face.

CHARMED

A/N: So? What did you guys think? Let me know what you thought. Keep reviewing! Every review I get is like fuel for the next chapter; so please, keep reviewing! Oh and question: Do you want me to include the Caleb- Chase conversation that they have in the movie in the next chapter?


	9. I'm Not Calling You A Liar

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, keep them coming. =D So, here it is, Chapter 8. Enjoy!

Melinda opened her eyes to see Caleb staring down at her.

"Hey." She said, sitting up. She looked around the room, "Where's Chase?"

"Gone." Caleb simply said. He looked at her for a few seconds, "Why didn't you just tell me?" He asked.

"Would you have believed me if I had?" Melinda asked him; Caleb thought about it for a few seconds,

"Probably not." He admitted. Melinda nodded,

"This was the best possible way to get to know you." Melinda paused and reached for his hand, "I'm sorry if I hurt you." Caleb shook his head, letting her hold his hand,

"I'm not hurt; it's just a lot to process, and with Pogue in the hospital-"Melinda interrupted,

"What happened to Pogue?"

"He had an accident. He was on his way to find Chase." Melinda thought about it for a second,

"Urm, I'm not going to go over my whole magical family history right now, but my brothers have the power to heal people." Melinda paused, "If you want, I could ask them to try to heal Pogue…" Melinda suggested. Caleb shot her a tired smile,

"You'd do that?" Melinda smiled and held on to his hand,

"Yeah." She said softly, "I'd do that."

CHARMED

Melinda and Caleb reached the hospital, and made their way to Pogue's room; Reid and Tyler looked a little confused to see Melinda there, but they didn't say anything. Melinda once again, looked around her to make sure that nobody else was looking,

"Wyatt?" She called uncertainly. "Chris?" All of a sudden, Chris appeared in a swirl of white orbs; Caleb, Reid and Tyler, took a few steps back, surprised. Chris smiled at his sister,

"Hey, is everything okay?" Chris said. "We haven't managed to find any more information on the spell that your friend is under, but Wyatt was working on it, so that's why I came instead- " Chris trailed off when he saw the three Sons of Ipswich standing behind his sister, he looked down at Melinda, "Explain. Now." Melinda stepped back and motioned to Caleb, Reid and Tyler.

"Chris, this is Caleb Danvers, Reid Garwin and Tyler Simms. The Sons of Ipswich." Melinda told her brother; she turned to the boys, "Guys, this is my older brother Chris." The three boys muttered quiet "Heys" to Chris; still freaked about by the whole orbing thing. Chris briefly looked at them, his eyes resting on Caleb for a moment,

"Aren't there supposed to be four of you?" He asked.

"Actually, there are five of them." Melinda told her brother. "Putnam's line never died out." Chris raised his eyebrows,

"Do the Elders know?" He asked. Melinda shrugged.

"Who knows?" She said, "Listen Chris, I need you to heal the boy in that room over there." Melinda pointed to Pogue's room." Chris nodded.

"Okay, gimme a sec." Melinda stepped back and watched her brother orb into the room. Caleb stepped forward to stand beside her,

"How does he do that?" He asked. Melinda paused,

"Long story short, my Dad used to be a guardian angel to Witches. He had the ability to orb and heal." Melinda motioned towards her brother who had his hands placed over Pogue's body. Reid spoke up from behind her,

"So, what? Are you part-Angel are something?" He snorted. Melinda turned around to face the boy,

"Wyatt and Chris are. My Dad clipped his wings before I was born, so I was born half-Witch and half- Mortal." Reid shook his head,

"I thought Caleb was messing with us when he told us that you're a Witch." Melinda looked at Caleb,

"When did you tell them that I was a Witch?" she asked.

"While you were talking to your brother. I figured it would save time." Caleb shrugged.

"Did you tell them about the Pact? Melinda asked.

"What Pact?" Tyler stepped forward. Melinda and Caleb exchanged looks; Caleb opened his mouth to speak, when Chris orbed out with the same confused expression he had worn earlier when he and Wyatt hadn't been able to heal Kate. Caleb stepped forward,

"Well?" Chris ignored Caleb and looked at his sister,

"Couldn't do it." Chris shook his head; "The same Dark Magic that's affecting you friend is affecting him too." Chris motioned with his head to Pogue's room. Caleb exhaled sharply,

"Chase." He turned to Melinda. Chris looked between his sister and her ex-fiancée.

"Who?" He asked Melinda.

"The fifth son. From Putnam's bloodline." Chris frowned.

"Well, whoever he is, he's powerful. I'll have to go check with the Elders about this one." Giving his sister a quick hug and a sharp nod in Caleb's direction, Chris orbed away to Elderland. There was an awkward silence for a moment before Reid interrupted,

"So what's this Pact?" Melinda took a deep breath and gave the Reid the cliff notes version,

"Basically, my ancestor made a Pact with your ancestors that the eldest daughter of the Charmed line shall be married to the eldest son of the Covenant before her 18th birthday or my entire family line gets wiped out. And if the eldest son doesn't marry the eldest daughter; the Power is broken forever." Melinda paused. "I'm the eldest daughter of the Charmed line. I came to Ipswich looking for the eldest son of the Covenant."

"What are you talking about when you say 'Charmed line'?" Tyler asked.

"My ancestor vowed that each generation of her line would grow stronger and stronger ending up in the arrival of three sisters who would be the most powerful source of good the world has ever known, they will fight evil and protect innocents. They shall be called the Charmed Ones. My Mom was a Charmed One. So, yeah." Melinda finished. "Any questions?" Reid and Tyler shook their heads. Melinda breathed a sigh of relief. "Good." She turned to Caleb,

"You guys stay here and keep an eye on Pogue." He told Reid and Tyler who nodded. "We'll be right back." Caleb held Melinda's hand and led her out of the hospital.

"Where are we going?" Melinda asked as they exited the hospital and began making their way towards Caleb's car.

"I want you to see something." He told her as he started his car and drove away from the hospital.

CHARMED

An hour later, Melinda found herself looking up the Danvers original colony house; the house looked less creepy in the darkness, but Melinda was still confused as to why they were there. Caleb got out of the car and motioned for Melinda to follow him. Melinda got out of the car but didn't move. Caleb turned to look at her,

"What's wrong?" He asked, walking over to her. Melinda frowned up him,

"Why are we here, Caleb?" She asked. Caleb took both her hands in his,

"Do you trust me?" He asked his dark eyes boring into hers. Melinda sighed,

"Of course I do, but-"

"I promise we'll talk about everything. I just have to show you something first. Okay?" Melinda nodded reluctantly. Caleb let go of one of her hands and led her to the old house. Once they reached the house; Caleb withdrew a key from his coat pocket and unlocked the door; the door creaked open and Melinda found herself in a narrow hallway.

"What about your caretaker?" She asked Caleb as he closed the door behind them. Caleb just took her hand,

"It's okay." He said, leading her up a narrow staircase. As they ascended the staircase, Melinda felt the air around them grow from cold and airy to hot and stuffy; almost as if there was a fire burning. Sure enough when Melinda reached the last step. She found herself in an attic; there was an old armchair that stood at one end of the room, facing the fire. There was medical equipment strewn all over the room. Melinda looked around them room in both awe and confusion, she only noticed the old man standing over the armchair, when he addressed Caleb.

"What are you doing?" He asked Caleb, glancing at Melinda.

"It's all right." Caleb said

"Caleb…" The old man said warningly.

"It's important to me Gorman." Caleb said. Gorman just stared at Caleb for a second before moving away from the chair. Caleb, still hold on to Melinda's hand, led her towards the armchair. The closer they got to the armchair; Melinda saw a gnarled hand resting on one of the arms.

"It's okay." Caleb said, sensing her unease. Suddenly they were standing in front of the chair, and Melinda was able to see the man in the chair more clearly; he was old. Really old. Melinda wondered if he was related to Caleb; his great-grandfather maybe? As Melinda was contemplating this, the old man's eyes flung open and when he saw them standing there, he smiled.

"This is William Danvers the Third." Caleb told her, his voice heavy with emotion, "My father." Melinda looked up at Caleb alarmed, "He's 44 yrs old."

CHARMED

"Every bloodline produces only one." Caleb told Melinda, half an hour later; by now the sun had risen, and they were sitting on the old bridge, near Putnam barn. "The eldest male."

"And you've had these powers since you born?" Melinda asked him. Caleb shook his head,

"At 13, you get a hit of it. It's sort of like a test. At 18 we Ascend. Our Powers fully mature. And it's seductive. Some can handle it and others like my father cant." Caleb finished. Melinda was quiet for a moment,

"So the Power wears your body down with each use of magic." Melinda realized. "And Chase wants you to will him your Power." Caleb nodded. "But what if you don't? Will you still be able to beat him?"

"He already has his father's Power; that makes him very powerful."

"And what if someone wills you their Power." Caleb shook his head,

"When we Ascend, the Power becomes our life. Lose the Power-"

"Lose your life." Melinda finished the sentence and looked down. There was still one more thing to discuss;

"Caleb," Melinda began. "Whatever happens next, I just want you to know that-"Melinda broke off. Caleb knelt on the ground in front of her,

"What are you talking about?" He asked. Melinda avoided meeting his eyes,

"I came here looking for my future husband, Caleb. Chase is the oldest son of the Covenant." Calebs eyes widened as the implications of her words began to sink in,

"No." Caleb said getting up and pacing back and forth. "No. You're not marrying Chase. No." Melinda got up and stopped him,

"Caleb," she said, placing a hand on the side of his face, "I have to do it. If I don't then not only does my family line get wiped out; but you, Pogue, Reid and Tyler would die as well. And I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if that happened." Caleb placed his hands on her shoulders,

"There has to be a way out of it." He said, his eyes pleading with her to tell him that there was loophole somewhere. Melinda shook her head sadly,

"There isn't. I mean, I've asked my cousins to find out if there was way out of marrying Chase, but I doubt there's a way out of it."

"What if we get rid of him?" Caleb asked her, his eyes serious. Melinda frowned,

"You just told me that he's too powerful to stop with your Powers." Caleb nodded.

"Doesn't mean I can't try." Melinda turned away from Caleb,

"And what happens if you get hurt in the process?" She asked him, toying with her charm bracelet. When she got no answer from Caleb, she turned to look at him, "Let me help you Caleb. Together we could get rid of Chase." Caleb shook his head,

"No way, I'm not getting you involved in this, any more than you already are."

"Caleb; Chase wouldn't dare hurt me. Whether he likes it or not; he needs me. He wants his powers; he needs me. He can't hurt me. I could distract him, while you figure out a way to get rid of him"

"So, what you're saying is that I use you for bait?" Melinda shrugged,

"Stranger things have happened." Caleb ran his hand through his hair,

"It's too risky." Melinda glared at him, "Okay, okay." Caleb raised his hands in a mock surrender, "We'll figure out the logistics later okay? First we have to talk to my Mother." Caleb took her hand and led her to his car.

CHARMED

Thanks to Calebs unbelievably fast driving, they reached Calebs house within seconds. As they pulled up to the imposing gates of the Danvers Mansion, Melinda was rendered speechless,

"You LIVE here?" She asked him, Caleb smiled sheepishly. "Wow." The gates swung open and Caleb maneuvered the car down the driveway. He stopped in front of the large doors that led into the house,

"Come on," He said getting out of the car. "Mother should be awake by now." Melinda suppressed her nerves and followed Caleb to the door; he opened the door, and Melinda found herself in an entrance hall filled with antiques that could rival the ones back home. Melinda was still looking around the hall in amazement, when a beautiful brunette woman descended the staircase,

"Caleb?" She said, her voice filled with concern, "Where on earth have you been?" Caleb looked up at his mother, his voice full of relief,

"Mother." He said, relief evident on his handsome face, "You're okay." Melinda realized that this was Caleb's mother and tried to make herself as invisible as possible; Caleb's mother waved a hand in the air,

"Of course I'm okay." She said, descending the final step to appear in front of the two teenagers, "And who may I ask is this?" She said, noticing Melinda for the first time. Melinda stepped forward to stand next to Caleb,

"Mother, this is Melinda Halliwell; she's a Witch." Caleb introduced Melinda to his mother, who peered at Melinda with interest,

"A Witch?" she repeated, eyebrows raised, Melinda nodded earnestly "Prove it." She said, taking a few steps back.

"Mother, is this really necessary?" Caleb began, but his mother held up a hand to stop him,

"Caleb, I would just like to make sure that she is who she says she is. That's all." She turned to Melinda, "Well?" Melinda sighed and raised her hands and blew up a lamp that was standing nearby; she then recited a spell to repair the vase. Once that was done, she turned to Caleb's mother, who was visibly stunned,

"Well, then." The older woman cleared her throat, "I guess that clears that little matter up. Its nice to meet you my dear." She said, shaking Melinda's hand. Melinda smiled, relieved,

"Its nice to meet you too, Mrs. Danvers."

"Please, call me Evelyn." Evelyn turned to her son, "Now, are you going to tell me where you were all night, or do I have to ask Melinda?" Caleb sighed,

"Mother." He said, "You should sit down."

A/N: So.. What did you think? I know this chapter was a little dry, but it was just filler; the next chapter will have a lot more action in it, I promise. So keep reviewing please!


	10. Promises

A/N: Sorry it's taken a while, I've had a serious case of writers block. Btw, for all you Vampire Diaries fans out there; check out my new story, "Zombie". I've only posted the prologue, but if I get a good reader response, I'll carry on writing the story. So, yeah, check it out =D

Melinda sat at the large vanity that stood in the guest bedroom at Caleb's house. It had been a long day. After Melinda had proved to Caleb's mother that she was really a witch, Caleb had sat his mother down and told her everything they knew about Chase, and what he wanted. Caleb was planning to take Chase down himself, but Evelyn had refused. Although she hadn't actually said anything at the time, Melinda agreed with Evelyn; if there was anything that her Mom had taught her it was that there was safety in numbers. Caleb going up against Chase alone was, in her opinion, stupid. That was why she had come up with her own plan: Caleb had finally come round to the idea of her being 'bait', but unknown to Caleb, Melinda wasn't just going to be bait, she would fight Chase too. The only problem was that she didn't know how much she'd be able to hurt Chase with her powers. She needed something a bit more heavy duty. Specifically, the most powerful vanquishing potion she knew. Melinda had phoned Prue to brew the potion and bring it over, along with Melinda's dress for the fall-fest. But it was getting closer and closer to the dance and Prue hadn't shown up yet. Melinda sighed and looked at her reflection in the large, gilt framed mirror. She'd had no idea what do with her hair, so she had left it down, the long, brown waves cascading down her back in loose curls. Her make-up was simple, and looking at the girl staring back at her looked a hell of a lot more relaxed than she did. After checking her watch for what was the 1000th time that night, Melinda was about to call her cousin and ask her what was taking so long, when she saw that familiar twinkle of white blue lights from the corner of her eye.

"Finally." Melinda said, swiveling around to face her cousin, "What took you-" Melinda's words dried up, as she saw her Mother and her Aunts standing in front of her, with bemused expressions on their faces. "Mom!" Melinda got up and ran to her mother, giving her a big hug. As Melinda felt her mother wrap her arms around her, Melinda felt for the first time that day that everything was going to be okay. "What are you doing here?" Melinda asked her Mom, pulling away from the hug. Piper smiled at her only daughter,

"You didn't think I'd miss my baby's first dance with her fiancée did you?" Melinda rolled her eyes and turned away from her mother,

"Well, I guess you guys didn't get the memo. Calebs not my fiancée. Chase is." Paige waved her hand in the air dismissively,

"Not if you vanquish Chase." Paige set down the large white box she had been carrying on the bed, "If you vanquish Chase, then, to fulfill the terms of the Pact, you'd have to marry the next son of the bloodline, which in this case, is Caleb."

"That's easier said than done Aunt Paige." Melinda looked at her aunt, "I have no idea how to defeat Chase. I figured a vanquishing potion might work, but, I have no idea whether or not it would work." Phoebe smiled,

"It'll work." She said, holding up the three potion bottles she held in her hand, "Just throw these at Chase, the red one first, then the blue, then the green. And then you have to recite the vanquishing spell we used on Cole. Do you remember it?" Melinda nodded. "Good. Do that and then you'll be okay." Melinda took the vials from her aunt and processed the information. Piper held up the white box.

"Its one of Billie's designs. There's a little holster for the potion bottles hidden in the bodice." Melinda smiled and lifted the dress out of the box; Billie spent her time demon-hunting and developing her fashion line. The line was called 'Charming Angel' in honor of Paige; her Charmed guardian angel. Billie's formal dresses were known for being remarkably beautiful and the dress before Melinda was no exception. It was a beautiful pale-pink creation of thousands of chiffon rosettes that had been hand-stitched to create an ethereal elegance; the strapless bodice, with oh so discreet potion holster, and the 20 foot train, made Melinda to gasp; Billie had really outdone herself this time.

"Wow." Melinda breathed as she held the dress out in front of her. Phoebe laughed,

"That's exactly what Prue said." Piper smiled at the sight of her daughter, regarding the dress as if it were from another planet.

"You know honey," The Matriarch of the Halliwell line checked her watch, "You should probably finish getting ready." Melinda shook herself out of the trance.

"Right," the young brunette said, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry." The Charmed Ones smiled and helped Melinda into the dress.

CHARMED

Meanwhile, downstairs in the living room, Evelyn Danvers paced the floor,

"Caleb, you cannot do this alone." She walked up to her son, "We have to go to the others." Caleb stood motionless, with his arms folded across his chest,

"We can't do that." He told his Mother. "He'll kill us all, including you. Pogue was the final warning." Evelyn looked up at her son,

"We have to go to your Father then." Caleb shook his head,

"No. I know what you're thinking Mother. And you'll know what will happen." Evelyn place her hands on either side on her sons face,

"But he loves you." Caleb gently removed his mother's hands,

"Well then, he'll die with that secret." Evelyn stared at her son for a few seconds before turning away. Caleb turned to Reid and Tyler, who were standing quietly in the corner of the room,

"I want you two to take Melinda to the dance. I'll meet you there." He told them; he still wasn't sure if using Melinda as bait was right, but she was adamant that it was the only way to distract Chase, plus, it was hard for him to resist the puppy dog eyes she had set on him. "Melinda thinks that that's where Chase would attack." He finished.

"Would you just let us help you?" Reid asked, "You know we've got your back."

"I know you do." Caleb assured him, "But please, just once, do as I ask?" He pleaded. Reid and Tyler nodded reluctantly. Caleb nodded and turned towards his mother,

"Where's Melinda?" He asked.

"Upstairs, getting ready." Evelyn replied, "She's powerful, Caleb. She and her family could help you." Caleb was about to reply, when a voice from the stairs interrupted,

"Your Mother's right Caleb." Melinda said, slowly descending the grand staircase, Caleb looked up and felt his heart stop in his chest, and then suddenly start beating ten times faster. 'If tonight ends badly,' Caleb thought as he watched Melinda descend the final step, 'then Chase was one lucky son of a bitch.' He thought bitterly. "My family could help you out." Melinda stepped off of the staircase and walked over to where Caleb stood.

"Wow." The Danvers son breathed as he took her into his arms, "You look amazing." He said, meaning every word.

"You look stunning my dear." Evelyn turned towards Melinda. Melinda smiled and looked up at Caleb,

"I'm serious Caleb. You can't go up against Chase alone." She said her eyes boring into his. Caleb shook his head and wrapped his arms around her waist a little tighter,

"This is my fight; I'm not going to let you get caught up in the crossfire."

"But-"Melinda started, but Caleb cut her off by pressing his lips on hers,

"No buts. Okay?" Melinda nodded slowly; it really didn't matter what Caleb thought, because she WAS going to fight Chase whether Caleb liked it or not. Evidently satisfied with Melinda's lack of protest, Caleb nodded,

"Ready?" He asked her.

"Yeah." Melinda turned to go, but Evelyn's voice stopped her,

"Caleb, you go ahead, I'd like to talk to Melinda alone." Caleb looked at his mother for a few seconds,

"Fine." He said, looking down at Melinda. "Meet me outside when you're done okay?" Melinda nodded. "Come on guys." Caleb motioned for Reid and Tyler to follow him outside. Soon, Melinda was all alone with Evelyn. There was silence in the room for a while,

"So," Evelyn began. "You have no intention of sitting on the sidelines and watching my son fight alone do you?" Melinda looked at the older woman surprised.

"How did you-"she began, but Evelyn held up her hand,

"You're a Halliwell." She said, "It's not in your nature to simply sit and observe" Melinda stared at the woman for a few seconds in obvious confusion; how was it that Evelyn had head of her family, but Caleb hadn't? Evelyn noticed the young witch's confusion,

"I'd known about the legend of the Charmed Ones even before I met you, William told me their story and we used to tell it to Caleb as a bedtime story; although I doubt he remembers now." Evelyn mused. She walked over to where Melinda stood, and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders, "My dear, I may not know all there is to know about you family, but I do know that you were born to protect the innocent, so I am begging you, from the bottom of my heart, please, please do everything you can to protect my son." Evelyn pleaded with the young witch. Melinda smiled and held the older woman's hands in her own,

"I promise. You will see your son again." Evelyn smiled and hugged Melinda,

"Thank you." Melinda let go of Evelyn and walked towards the door, where she knew that Caleb had been listening in on their conversation.

CHARMED

"You know," Melinda said as she and Caleb walked down the impossibly large driveway of the Danvers mansion hand in hand. "You should seriously work on your eavesdropping skills; I totally KNEW you were there." Caleb held on to her hand a little tighter as they approached Tyler's Hummer.

"I know what you promised my Mother." He turned her around so that she was facing him, "And I want you to promise that you won't try to protect me. I won't let you lose your life for me." Melinda broke away from his embrace,

"Caleb. I'm not just going to STAND there and watch Chase kill you. You told me that he was too powerful to stop with your current set of powers, so what are you going to do? You need help. I am help. Why is it so hard for you to let me help you?"

"Because I- I love you too much to risk losing you." Caleb said, looking down at the ground. Melinda stared at the boy for a few seconds,

"Did you just say-?" Melinda said, unable to repeat those words.

"That I loved you? Yes, I did." Caleb said, looking her directly in the eye. Melinda stood there speechless, Caleb took advantage of her silence, "You're too important to me and I don't want you anywhere near Chase, and you being bait is hard enough for me without-"Melinda, having overcome her silence broke in,

"Trust me Caleb," she said as she opened the door to Tyler's Hummer, "I've gone up against far more scarier demons than Chase Collins. I think I'll be fine." Melinda started to get into Tyler's car, but Caleb stopped her,

"Its not that I think you can't take of yourself, I know you can, its just this whole Pact thing. It makes everything personal. I'm worried that if you're there then Chase might-"

"Sweep her away for a shotgun wedding?" Reid suggested from the passenger seat. Melinda frowned and looked back at Reid,

"Eavesdrop much?" Reid just shrugged and looked ahead; Caleb looked down at Melinda,

"What Reid said." Melinda wrapped her arms around Caleb's neck,

"If that happens, then I'll kick his ass and then I'll come back to you. Don't worry. I'll be fine." Caleb warped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss; this one more urgent than their first one. It was as if Caleb was worried that this kiss may be their last. Melinda pulled away, slightly breathless,

"See? I'll be just fine." She said. Caleb handed her into the car and shut the door. Melinda tuned around in her seat and saw Caleb standing by the gate; watching them leave.

The car ride to the dance was mostly silent, both Reid and Tyler worried for Caleb, and Melinda anxiously going over Caleb's confession in her head; he had told her that he loved her. That was big. Melinda wondered if she felt the same way. The whole Chase thing seriously messed things up. Her heart told her to love Caleb, but her brain stopped her and told her that there was no point in loving Caleb because she was going to marry Chase. If she did manage to get rid of Chase, then she'd tell Caleb how she really felt about him. Because deep down, she knew that loved him back.

They got to the dance and Melinda stood outside with Reid and Tyler, her instincts on high alert. What she hadn't told Caleb was that she had asked Wyatt and Chris to observe the dance from a safe distance, so that if anything went wrong, they could intervene, they had only been there for a while, but Melinda felt that something was about to go down. She turned to Tyler, because Reid was on the phone with Caleb, who was still on his way to Spenser,

"Tyler," she said, her breath fogging up, "something's about to happen, I can feel it." Tyler looked at her and then looked in the direction of the trees. A shiver went up Melinda's spine as she felt something drop down behind her. One second. That was all it had taken. Reid and Tyler's backs had been turned and Chase had struck; he quickly turned her around to face him; his smiling face was the last thing she saw as her world began to go black.

CHARMED

A/N: So there you have it; another cliffy for you. The next chapter might take a little longer to post because I need to re-work the fight to include the Halliwells in it. So be warned. In the meantime, review, and also check out my new story, especially if you're a Vampire Diaries fan =D


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